TorrentFreak

Sweden may add charges to broadband subscriptions to, “compensate music and film companies for the downloading of their work, while legalizing the downloading of copyright-protected material,”

The Local quotes justice minister Thomas Bodström as saying.

And in the process, it might drop the ban on file sharing, it states, going on:

“Bodström told Sydsvenskan that he could consider tearing up legislation passed last year that made it illegal to download copyrighted material. He said that a broadband charge was discussed by Swedish political parties last year, but the Moderates and Left Party rejected it. If they have changed their minds, he is willing to discuss any new proposals they might have …”

Emphasising he hasn’t changed his stance, “I still think that [the current law] is the best option for two reasons,” he says in the story, “first, it would be unfair on those who have subscribed to broadband and don’t want to download, secondly because it would mean that the government was setting the price for goods, which I don’t think we should do, whether those goods are in a shop or on the net.”

Bodström is also quoted as saying he hasn’t been approached by the Left Party or Moderates. Rather, he’d, “only read about their proposals in the media”.

This might be a clever move since 75% of the young voters in Sweden support filesharing, even if it’s illegal.

p2pnet

Previously: Young Swedes Love Filesharing

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