From Billboard: Anti-IP Party Launches in Sweden
“A group of Swedish file sharers announced Jan. 1 that it is starting a new political party, the Piracy Party, to provide a legal environment for exchanging copyrighted property for free.
“Spokesman Sebastian Sjalin claims Piracy Party represents Sweden’s 800,000 file sharers who are ‘tired of being called criminals.’
“The manifesto promises to alter existing intellectual property legislation and prevent implementation of the December 2005 European Union Data Retention directive.”
The Piracy Party needs only 1500 signatures to become a formally recognized political party.
From The Inquirer: Swedish pirates form political party
By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 03 January 2006, 06:55
A BUNCH of Swedish file sharers have got together to form their own political party.
The Pirate Party (Piratpartiet) said that it is tired of being deemed a criminals and terrorists by the system for sharing a few measly files for no financial gain or loss to anyone.
In its manifesto, here, which is in Swedish, the party says that it is against seeing the developing world starve because the developed world refuses to share its intellectual property.
Its massage is that corporations are engaging in racketeering in the developing world and a few power hungry individuals and greedy corporate entities are infringing on privacy and integrity. Piratpartiet says that it will strike out immaterial law, ignore WIPO and WT, and annul any further treaties or policies that hinder the free flow of information. They will refuse to allow data retention nonsense based on terrorism claims or failed RIAA business models.
The new party, wants to break the four per cent barrier (225 000 votes) this autumn to take up seats in parliament.
Even if they the party gets no-one elected, it is clear that it does represent a backlash against copyright protection laws and the antics of the RIAA and its ilk.
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