The upcoming Pirate Bay documentary TPB AFK will highlight some under-reported details about the connection between the BitTorrent site and Wikileaks. Among other things, Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm was credited for his involvement in getting the "Collateral Murder" video out to the public. Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the former spokesman of WikiLeaks, further recalls travelling to Sweden with Julian Assange to pay server fees . A meeting he will not forget anytime soon.

This Friday will see the release of TPB AFK, a dark documentary that will follow the three Pirate Bay founder during their trials in Sweden.

TorrentFreak has seen an advance screening of the film and we can say that it’s not a hero story, not at all. It is a unique documentary about three totally different individuals with personalities that often clashed. They had their own motives for becoming involved in The Pirate Bay, and defended them till the bitter end.

Gottfrid Svartholm, the youngest of the three, made the news last year when he was deported from Cambodia to Sweden, where he’s currently serving his prison sentence for his involvement in The Pirate Bay.

In the film Gottfrid comes across as a witty person who likes to challenge the status quo. Known online as Anakata, he can be credited for many of the bold responses to copyright holders that are still published in Pirate Bay’s legal threats section.

TPB AFK tease

Gottfrid also founded Internet company PRQ which provided hosting to many controversial sites including Wikileaks. In TPB AFK this connection is brought up as well, with Daniel Domscheit-Berg saying that Julian Assange has a lot of respect for the Pirate Bay founder.

The former Wikileaks spokesman recalls that he and Julian Assange made a quite an unusual trip to Sweden to hand over the hosting fees in 2008. The Wikileaks duo were surprised by Gottfrid apparent paranoia, and Domscheit-Berg remembers it as one of the weirdest experiences he ever had.

“He came to the hotel. And had someone waiting outside in a car. They had some kind of agreement that Gottfrid would always be near a window. So he stood there in the lobby and behaved really strange. Every half a minute he turned around to see if the guy in the car was still there,” Domscheit-Berg explains.

Gottfrid declined an offer to hang out for a drink, simply accepted the money and which he took off quickly.

However, Gottfrid’s dealings with Wikileaks didn’t stop at providing hosting services. Together with other people connected to The Pirate Bay he helped out the whistle-blower site on several fronts. Most publicly he assisted in the publication of the “Collateral Murder” video, which some regard as Wikileak’s big break.

At the end of the Wikileaks video the Pirate Bay founder is listed as part of the “decryption and transmission team” and credited for “networking.” While the exact nature of his contribution remains unknown, it is no secret that Gottfrid is an encryption specialist and that the leaked footage had to be decrypted before it was of any use.

Collateral Murder Credits

A Pirate Bay insider informs TorrentFreak that several Pirate Bay “associates” did work for Wikileaks.

“Let’s say we were really good friends once upon a time. The original idea of Wikileaks is really close to that of The Pirate Bay, as you know.”

Our source further confirms that Gottfrid was connected to other Wikileaks endeavors, albeit minimally, and that it is “not improbable” that his contributions were related to crypto activities.

“Anakata has always been involved ‘lightly’ in all projects. Just as with The Pirate Bay, he didn’t really do a lot, because he had so many other things to do. He can’t focus on one thing,” we were told.

Unlike others connected to Wikileaks the Pirate Bay founder appears to get most satisfaction from displaying his skills, rather than displaying himself. With a constant drive to solve new puzzles and break down barriers, the establishment is a natural enemy.

More on Gottfrid Svartholm, the Wikileaks connection and the events surrounding the Pirate Bay trials will be made public on Friday when TPB AFK is released on the Internet.