Swedish Left Party Wants to Legalize Piracy
Written by Ernesto on June 09, 2008This Sunday, the Swedish Left Party voted in favor of a motion calling for the legalization of sharing copyrighted files for personal use. The party, which currently holds 22 seats in the Swedish parliament, sees piracy as something positive, much like public libraries.
At the party’s congress this weekend, party members had to vote on a motion that would legalize the uploading and downloading of copyrighted material for personal use, as long as it is not for commercial purposes.
“To many of us in the Left Party, file sharing is something positive in the same obvious way that public libraries are,” the motion read, going on to describe the general opinion on file sharing in Sweden.
In addition, the motion stated that the various measures taken for trying to stop file sharing, such as big brother-like surveillance, or arbitrary sentences against individuals, are unacceptable.
The Pirate Bay, the main reason why piracy is such a hot topic in Sweden, was also mentioned in the motion. “The farce that is the ongoing legal procedures against The Pirate Bay also shows how legal security is in risk of being compromised by those trying to enforce the current ban on file sharing,” it read.
The motion concluded that legalizing piracy is the solution, and that the Left Party should take a stand for opening the possibilities to make copies for personal use.
The congress was split on the issue, and debate was heated before the vote on Sunday, but when the vote was taken it fell in favour of the motion legalizing file sharing.
“We obviously want to be the cultural workers’ party in the future, but legislation which makes the majority of the adult population criminals must be changed,” Elise Norberg Pilhem of the party’s board said.
Today, only a few hours after The Left Party’s new stance on file sharing, another initiative in the same direction was presented from across the aisle. The Swedish Center Party - the third largest party in Sweden, currently in government with four cabinet ministers, has called for an improvement in current copyright legislation.
Earlier this year the party had no success in convincing their colleagues in the government coalition to legalize non-commercial file sharing. Today, the party demands a complete oversight of the copyright legislation, and the appointment of a commission to investigate how a new copyright law could be constructed.
We now see a younger generation questioning copyright more and more, and with that there will be demands for updated copyright legislation. We need a legislation that is accepted by as many as possible, says Annie Johansson, the Center Party’s spokesperson on copyright.
It looks like things are changing for the better in Sweden.
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98 Responses
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Now to take down the RIAA…
hey, 1st comment!!
@mister X
no need they will destroy themselves
i like the idea of piracy being a “public library” even if the books is at the library its possible to get them in the store if you want to own it
The future is getting closer… bit by bit… the “public library” way on p2p is the way to go, sweden, hope this concludes well and sets a beautiful precedent…
We are getting closer to the future, please, someone, hold back the **AAs on this one so we can have some social progress!
that would be unreal. There would be lots of dedi servers popping up over there :D! Once that’s in place SSL FTP to home PC :D woop!
If this motion passes it is good news for Sweden, but also for other countries in the area and in Europe that are split on this copyright issue.
The entertainment corporations and their posse are far too powerful in the USA, but this legislation could have positive consequences for countries such as the UK and we should all support it as much as possible :)
Swedish torrenters, petition your representatives for the sake of all of us!
Sounds a like another slimy political promise designed to try to get votes! Well it would have mine I lived in Sweden!
Very Good News.
Hope They legalize it ! ! !
now how do i get a high speed secure connection with a sweedish ip# only if the politians here i9n the USA would see the light
canada is trying to make it illegal while sweden is trying to make it legal. interesting
Good on you, Sweden!
Workers, leechers and seeders of the world, unite!
If such a precedent is ever set, that is, filesharing is legalized in a European country, and it probably will happen sooner or later, it would be very interesting to see how the countries ‘enlightened’ in a copyright sense of the word, US mainly, would officially and unofficially react to this…
This could set as an example to other Governments and hopeful parties. Everyone should be petitioning their politians now everywhere. Make this bigger than it already is. Anyone with an internet connection you know who isn’t already learning and exploring our world culture you should help them. Someone please construct a worthwhile petition on the downing street website for me to sign with hope.
Holy shit..
GO Sweden, woot… Man thats good… Now all trackers could be safe in Sweden, and RIAA and else then would fuck themselfs, woot :)
Hm, didn’t know about Canada. This might be different, though, as while in the Canada case this looks to be more of a lucky legislative loophole, this time it’s a change of moral values we might be dealing with.
A few things should perhaps be clarified:
* “cultural worker” sounds like communist new-speak for authors and artists, etc. It is. That said, the use of the phrase has spread and is now in common use.
* The “Left Party”. Why, yes, they really are hard communists. They have a few skeletons in their closet, but they’ve tried to reinvent themselves with varying results.
* It is extremely likely that this means absolutely nothing, since the leftist won’t have means to do anything, but will pick up this card in order to have something to trade away in negotiations with socialautocrats.
* There are no fewer than 7 parties in the Riksdag. From left to right, roughly:
* Left Party, (Some, not all call themselves communist),
* Social democrats (soft left, often not even that),
* Greens (left, not supposed to be, but they are),
… and on the other side (currently in charge, a change from the usual.)
* Peoples party ‘liberals’ (scare quotes are apt, they usually call for more wiretaps, more fasces[1])
* Center party (representing forrest owners, farmers and people in rural areas),
* Moderates (the main right wing)
* Christian democrats (very conservative, I mean like from before the last, oh, 80yrs of mostly socialist rule.)
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces
it’s not like the library. you must return objects to the library, whereas with downloading, you keep it forever. and no, ripping borrowed cds is not legal.
not saying this is my stance, but we have to be a little less biased//ignorant if we are to win this war.
Makes me glad I’m moving to Sweden when I graduate from college. :)
@17 the zune has the ability to share music, its try before you buy, which is the exact same thing as a library and bookstore, and filesharing and buying.
Do they speak English in Sweeden or do I need to learn another language? Because I’m moving there ASAP, the US is a sinking ship in more ways then 1!
Comparing filesharing with libraries is a good way of comparing… even though as filesharing is a little superior… (Many people can use the same file at once, and if they do, it gets even better)
Well, it seems like part of the politicians finally get some idea how stuff works… The older, “traditional” and more conservative may still outnumber them right now though (in the government only of course), so it may still take a while for this to get real… but I wish you in Sweden a lot of luck, so that it works faster than I exspect it to…
They learn English as a second language kind of like we learn spanish but I still would recommend learning Swedish. I want to go there so badly to. I definitely agree with the sinking ship. With our imperialisation, failing economy and religious nutjobs, America is going right down the tubes.
I wish this can happen in America as well…though this is by far the best step in the right direction either way :) let’s hope other nations follow suit.
This is fucking awesome.
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