Sweden Piracy Group Wins Seat on EU Parliament!

[brandonjclark]

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/4706/piratex.jpg

Reuters reports (http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5571HM20090608):

Sweden's Pirate Party, striking a chord with voters who want more free content on the Internet, won a seat in the European Parliament, early results showed Sunday.

The Pirate Party captured 7.1 percent of votes in Sweden in the Europe-wide ballot, enough to give it a single seat. The party wants to deregulate copyright, abolish the patent system and reduce surveillance on the Internet.

Oh. My. God.

[Evil Avatar]

Never again will they underestimate the political might of a group of pissed off internet geeks who want free shit.

[OmegaVader]

The backlash of the piratebay conviction...the party's membership rocketed many times over as a result.

[bulldozer.sweden]

It's mostly because of the IPRED and the FRA law here in Sweden I think.

[Vorge]

If you lot actual look at their policyies then you'd see they are campaigning off the back of some interestign ideas. The current music/film/game distribution system is pretty archaic and must change with the times, and these guys are suggesting alternatives that sooner or later are going to need to be discussed seriously.

[Agnostic]

I find this very awesome.

For some reason this was my first thought:

"Hi, You're going to call off your rigorous investigation. You're going to publicly state that there is no underground group, or these guys are going to take your balls. They're going to send one to the New York Times, one to the L.A.Times-press style release. Look, the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals. We haul your trash. We connect your calls. We drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not fuck with us." -Tyler Dyrden

[AversionFX]

Good news, I'd say. Best of luck to them.

[ghost]

Definitely funny on initial thought, but I question some of their directions. I mean, I fully agree that the current copyright system is archaic and needs to adapt to modern technology and culture, but abandoning the patent system completely - how is one to establish claim to any kind of return for their work, if there is no official "I made this!" sign? Could be quite interesting to see how this develops.

[Lind]

It's believed that they "stole" a lot of votes from Sverige Demokraterna and that makes me happy since SD is a more or less overtly racist party.

I'd pick pirates over racists anyday.

[alienchild]

This is not a response to (to make an analogy) big firms saying "You can't have our shit for free!". This is basically a response to the big firms lobbying old farts in the EU who dont give a shit about the internet about sick nazi surveilance... not to mention "Internet 2".

Internet is the biggest thing that's happened to democracy since it's invention. That is more important than copyrights.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

Well , quoting a interviewed voter who voted for Piratpartiet:
"I want to be able to download movies for free"...
Sigh, what can you say about a One subject party.

Fools, and a disgrace for europe. But single, nerdy, male student are their main voters. I guess virgins have a new party.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

Never again will they underestimate the political might of a group of pissed off internet geeks who want free shit.
Well their "free stuff", is another mans work and livelihood.

It´s a basic right to own the rights to your own creation or work. It´s not a basic right to steal.

[Vorge]

It's far from being that simple - I think their main beef is with an totally outdated IP policy and the companies who are unable to innovate and come up with a new business model to fit the digital world. They are not just pushing for everything to become a free torrent, but I think they strongly disagree with how large corporates are dealing with the new online era.

[AspectVoid]

Well , quoting a interviewed voter who voted for Piratpartiet:
"I want to be able to download movies for free"...
Sigh, what can you say about a One subject party.


I'll be honest, I don't see the difference between someone voting for this and someone who votes depending on what the canidates' stance on abortion is. Both are 1 subject lines, both can be legal or not, and both are polarizing positions.

Personally, I think the patent system needs to be killed and something else put in place. Right now its a piece of garbage and it allows things to be too general. For intsance, the company I work for makes electronic products that use batteries. Our chief competitor has a patent on "Reading the battery level in [product] and using this information to inform the client that the battery is low." It is fucking retarded that they were allowed a patent for a freaking battery indicator.

[Earth Djinn]

Abolish the patent system?

That's freaking idiotic.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

I'll be honest, I don't see the difference between someone voting for this and someone who votes depending on what the canidates' stance on abortion is.


Difference is : Other parties have a party program on how to fund government expenses, tax levels, their stance on social fees and systems etc. Piratpartiet doesn´t have a party program.

Good thing is that they only got one mandate, which is pretty much nothing in the big picture. THe good thing is that Piratpartiet is associated with the stereotypical lonely male with lacking social skills group, making sure this party is confined as a niche party never growing beyond that small group.

[RMan]

I mean, I fully agree that the current copyright system is archaic and needs to adapt to modern technology and culture, but abandoning the patent system completely - how is one to establish claim to any kind of return for their work, if there is no official "I made this!" sign?
Copyright law covers that. Patents allow someone to own a process or solution to a problem, and I have currently not seen a software patent I felt was worthy. Software solutions are just too simple and obvious, and lightning fast to develop (compared to most products), granting patents isn't remotely necessary to promote software development.

Patents serve to improve other products, IMO, but software absolutely doesn't need them, and suffers the ill effects more than the benefits. This is just a general patent/copyright rant, I know nothing of sweden.

[sirspankalot]

You do have to put the result in perspective: the EP election is pretty much non-relevant for the common man in Sweden.

Only 46% percent voted (25% didn't even know we had an election!), so Piratpartiet wont ever get this much in a national parliment election. They get around 1,5 - 2% in the latest polls.

[Cefca]

I´m glad this happened. It´ll be interesting to see where this leads to. Good luck!

[brandonjclark]

is associated with the stereotypical lonely male with lacking social skills group
and
But single, nerdy, male student are their main voters.You keep associating this party with sexist terms. Usually, when someone uses race or sex to equate someone, their other claims are baseless. Do you have a personal vendetta against this party?

Are you saying that a woman with children, who was sued for copyright infringement let's say, couldn't be a party member?

[sirspankalot]

and
You keep associating this party with sexist terms. Usually, when someone uses race or sex to equate someone, their other claims are baseless. Do you have a personal vendetta against this party?

Are you saying that a woman with children, who was sued for copyright infringement let's say, couldn't be a party member?


It's not a coincidence that some areas where students of Swedens technical universities live had the highest concentration of Piratpartiet voters.

People voted on them to take a stand and the ones who knows anything about them (and voted for them) are almost exclusively male between 18 - 30 years old.

(as for nerdy and single, I'm not commenting on that :P)

[RevGored]

Yeah let's get everything for free and not pay for it until the developers don't have jobs anymore then we'll complain that the government isn't doing enough to help subsidize these poor workers in a failing market that we created through idiocy!

BEST OF LUCK GUYS

[7ofswords]

Yeah let's get everything for free and not pay for it until the developers don't have jobs anymore then we'll complain that the government isn't doing enough to help subsidize these poor workers in a failing market that we created through idiocy!

BEST OF LUCK GUYS

Honestly.... THIS

[Billen]

This is probably mostly due to the Pirate Party fighting against IPRED and FRA, which are tools to make Big Brother more powerful.

[Valkyrist]

And to think, you normally have to pay for this kind of entertainment!

[drakkarim]

Wow, it is obvious that Sweden is NOT running a democracy, that kind of questioning of the monopolies would never be allowed in a great democracy such as ours.

[AversionFX]

Wow, it is obvious that Sweden is NOT running a democracy, that kind of questioning of the monopolies would never be allowed in a great democracy such as ours.

I just want to create another line of this post. People getting all high-and-mighty. Why on earth would anyone want to oppose a monopolistic practice!? I have no idea! :rolleyes:

[Pitpig]

Yaaarrrrr!

[brandonjclark]

Wow, it is obvious that Sweden is NOT running a democracy, that kind of questioning of the monopolies would never be allowed in a great democracy such as ours.

Help, I'm stuck in the sarcasm! It burns, it burns!!!!!!!

Seriously, this is why they exist:)

[brandonjclark]

Yaaarrrrr!

ThreadWinner!

That cracked me up when I said it out loud;)

[MusashiOf5Rings]

Ultimately it is more complex that a bunch of nerdy college students trying to win a little attention, or people just wanting to grab content for free. The fact is, the current copyright and patent laws served us well for a couple centuries, but now they don't work. Copyrights and patents primary intended purpose is to promote innovation and content creation. Currently, with so much copyrighted material in the hands of groups like the RIAA, things need to change. Legal decisions imposing $100k + fines on anyone between 8 and 80 years old for downloading a few songs that play constantly on the radio do not serve the populace at large, nor generally speaking, serve the artists that created the music in the first place. The RIAA at one point even formed a para-law enforcement group, replete with tactical gear and weaponry, SWAT-style. Again, this does not serve public interest, nor does it promote content creation.

My second point is that at the height of Napster's original time in the spot light, record sales were the highest they had ever been in decades, even when adjusted for population growth. Even today, music sales have not moved that many copies, digitally and physically combined. I fully acknowledge the boom economy of the time playing a role in that, but it still doesn't fully account for such high record sales. At the very least, it needs to be investigated more deeply.

I don't agree fully with the abolition of copyrights and patents, but I do think we need sweeping reforms, especially here in the US. The law needs to once again empower the people and content creators. In the age of the internet, there is no reason we can't do both without having to put money in the pockets of middlemen.

Democracy - it's not just for voting anymore.

-FM

[blackzc]

I mean, if we want everything for free. The media industry can go away and we can switch over to all homemade, homebrew, open source everything. Video games, news, movies, tv shows can all just go away and we can do it ourselves for each other.

I really dont get how these guys can cry this much about the ol (torrents are used for legit reason) loophole. Must be some socialumunist mindset i dont get.

Fuck i know from experiences stealing shit gets old and you want to pay for things again.

[blackzc]

This is also strange when the EU is seeing previous far left countries swinging far right via the latest elections(yay)..I sense a disturbance in the force. Everyone appears to out in force grabbing for power.

[Druxk]

There is still hope for this world.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

and
You keep associating this party with sexist terms. Usually, when someone uses race or sex to equate someone, their other claims are baseless. Do you have a personal vendetta against this party?

Are you saying that a woman with children, who was sued for copyright infringement let's say, couldn't be a party member?

I am taking those stats from the survey DN made on voters (who voted for who, gender bracket/Work or study/unemployed/age/)
So no it´s not taken out of my ass.

And by the way , logically , a single mom wouldn´t waste a vote on a one issue party, neither would a educated working male (generally)

[bjornbarspingvinen]

. Copyrights and patents primary intended purpose is to promote innovation and content creation. Currently, with so much copyrighted material in the hands of groups like the RIAA, things need to change.


Even today, music sales have not moved that many copies, digitally and physically combined. I fully acknowledge the boom economy of the time playing a role in that, but it still doesn't fully account for such high record sales. At the very least, it needs to be investigated more deeply.


-FM
Stop talking out of your ass.
Taken from "History of copyright law":
"As a legal concept, its origins in Britain were from a reaction to printers' monopolies at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In Britain the King of England and Scotland was concerned by the unregulated copying of books and used the royal prerogative to pass the Licensing Act of 1662 which established a register of licensed books and required a copy to be deposited with the Stationers Company, essentially continuing the licensing of material for the benefit of printers that had long been in effect. The Statute of Anne in 1709 was the first real copyright act, and gave the author in the new state of Britain rights for a fixed period, after which the copyright expired. Internationally, the Berne Convention on 9 September 1886 set out the scope of copyright protection, and is still in force to this day. Copyright has grown from a legal concept regulating copying rights in the publishing of books and maps to one with a significant effect on nearly every modern industry, covering such items as sound recordings, films, photographs, software, and architectural works."
---
"Historically, many societies governed by socialist governments have viewed copyright as a welfare or support mechanism for artists, instead of (or in addition to) a legal right."

Sales:
Your are full of it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/jan/01/music-sales-down
"Music sales decline for seventh time in eight yearsUS sales of CDs have fallen again, and paid-for digital downloads have not grown fast enough to make up the difference, according to Nielsen's numbers"

Get a clue....