One of the co-founders of the notorious Pirate Bay website was convicted (Google Translate) Thursday in a major hacking case in Denmark, and could face up to six years in prison.

Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, better known by his nom de hacker "anakata," was found guilty of "hacking and gross damage" after being accused of illegally accessing the country’s driver’s license database (Google Translate), social security database, the shared IT system across the Schengen zone, and the e-mail accounts and passwords of 10,000 police officers and tax officials. All of that data was managed by CSC, a large American IT contractor.

Under Danish law, even after conviction, the defendants are only officially known by anonymous monikers: Svartholm Warg was dubbed "T1," while his still-unnamed 21-year-old Danish co-defendant was named "T2."

Svartholm Warg previously had been convicted by a Swedish court of hacking Logica, a large Danish IT firm, and was initially sentenced to two years in prison, which was later reduced to one year on appeal. Related hacking charges against Nordea, a sizable bank, eventually were dropped. He continued to deny the charges in the cases in both Denmark and Sweden, explaining that his computers were configured for remote access, and were set up to be tested and used by other people.

"Danish and Swedish police and the Centre for Cyber ​​Security committee has subsequently made ​​a number of studies and analysis of the possibility of remote control of defendants T1's laptop," according to the court. "The studies showed no trace or sign of remote control."

However, two of the six jurors (but none of the three judges) found Svartholm Warg's explanation plausible, and voted to acquit him. Under Danish law, unlike in the United States, a jury's verdict does not have to be unanimous. A split jury would have resulted in a not guilty verdict.

Jacob Appelbaum, the well-known American computer security researcher now based in Berlin, who testified on Svartholm Warg's behalf, agreed with the minority of jurors.

Gottfrid convicted. I'm sad to hear that only two of the jurors understand the technology involved: https://t.co/cpqXvgUHP7 #FreeAnakata — Jacob Appelbaum (@ioerror) October 30, 2014

Svartholm Warg's mother, Kristina Svartholm, echoed Appelbaum.

"I am glad that two jurors realized remote control was technically possible in many ways," she wrote on Twitter on Thursday. "Still some hope for Denmark."

"There are no precedents"

According to the English-language Denmark-based publication, The Local , Prosecutor Maria Cingari will push for the maximum sentence, as well as a travel ban to Denmark.

"Past practice is no help in determining the sentence, as there are no precedents," she told the court. "This is the largest hacking case to date. The crime is very serious, and this must be reflected in the sentence."

In Sweden, Svartholm Warg was accused of hacking Logica, an IT firm that contracts with the Swedish tax authority. In 2012, Logica was hit by an online attack that resulted in about 9,000 Swedes (Google Translate) having their personal identity numbers released to the public. (However, in Sweden, most people's identity numbers are public information, but some can be kept private.) Svartholm Warg was also charged with fraud in the country.

The alleged Denmark hack—particularly of the Danish social security numbers (CPR)—has become a major scandal in the country. It could have significant implications for every Dane (Google Translate), as social security numbers include each person’s birthday within the number itself. Thus, they cannot be easily and substantially changed.

Previously, Svartholm Warg was also one of four co-defendants as part of The Pirate Bay to be convicted of aiding copyright infringement.

In 2010, a Swedish appellate court reduced their prison sentences to between four and ten months each. However, their collective fine was increased to 46 million Swedish kronor ($6.8 million).

They appealed again. In February 2012, the Swedish Supreme Court declined to hear the case, effectively ending the legal battle in Sweden, but the government had a tough time enforcing its judgment.

After being extradited to Denmark, Svartholm Warg served 11 months in prison—he is due to be sentenced in a Copenhagen court on Friday.