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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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EU Parliament Next Stop for Pro-Piracy Party

Swedish group's membership up 215% after Pirate Bay case

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(Newser) – Swedish pirates could soon be invading the European parliament, the Times of London reports. The Pirate Party, a political group whose sole aim is encouraging Internet copyright infringement, is poised to win several seats in next month’s elections. “The plan is Sweden, Europe, the world—in that order,” said the party’s top candidate. “This is a fateful question for Europe.”

But it’s especially salient in Sweden, one of the world’s most wired countries and home to the controversial file-sharing site Pirate Bay. Since its founders were given a year in prison for flouting copyright laws, Pirate Party membership has soared 215%. “Our politicians are digital illiterates,” said the group’s leader. “We need politicians that will not let themselves be bullied.”

Supporters of file-sharing hub the Pirate Bay demonstrate in Stockholm, Sweden, April 18 2009.
Supporters of file-sharing hub the Pirate Bay demonstrate in Stockholm, Sweden, April 18 2009.   (AP Photo)
The Pirate Party is on course to win several seats in the European parliament.
The Pirate Party is on course to win several seats in the European parliament.   (Shutter Stock)
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The establishment and the politicians have declared war against our entire generation. Our politicians are digital illiterates. We need politicians that will not let themselves be bullied by foreign powers.
- Rick Falkvinge, the Pirate Party’s leader

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4 comments
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flame821
May 22, 09 5:22 PM CDT
I agree, we do need more technological savvy people in the legislature. I mean REALLY, the internet is a series of tube....I thought that idiot was joking. I was frightened when I realized that is actually his working understanding of what the internet is. Reply
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+2
shonangreg
May 22, 09 6:15 PM CDT
We do need some civil disobedience when it comes to the ongoing power grab of the media companies -- and patent trolls. Before copyright laws were first made, anyone could copy anything and even sell it openly. Copyright was a system designed to limit the copying so that inventors and artists would have greater incentive to create and invent more. It is an artificial system -- a government mandated monopoly of sorts. ..................... But it never was supposed to totally, perfectly stop other people from copying or making derivative works -- and not for a hundred plus years! Art thrives on imitation. ....................... If this 'I have the absolute right to control how my intellectual property is used" attitude was acquiesced to a hundred years ago, libraries would have been the pirate havens of their day and deemed illegal for all the lost book sales they represented. ..... Go! go! White hat pirates! You're fighting for our freedom! Reply
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SPH
May 23, 09 2:01 PM CDT
First patent law applies to inventions, not copyright...Patents in the US expire after a maximum of 26 years...Second, copyright laws applies to written and visual works and expire after 75 years...Both are somewhat monopolistic and are intended to at least give creators of these thing the FIRST chance to commercialize their work...Oddly, these laws often have been used to prevent the commercialization of the work... Third and last these laws were established very early in the history of the US (1790 I think) and have served the country well....
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SPH
May 23, 09 2:06 PM CDT
To all those that seem bent on the establishment of a Parliamentary system of legislation in the US as a means to produce viable additional political parties, this scenario is but one risk....Between term collapse of government is another.... Reply
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