Swedish Politicians Strike Blows at Copyright Lobby
Last week, seven Swedish MPs wrote to a prominent Swedish tabloid newspaper ‘Expressen’ to express their dissatisfaction with proposals for dealing with copyright infringers. Now, that number has increased to 13, and the issue seems to keep growing.
Initially, Karl Sigfrid, and 6 other MPs [Members of Parliament] wrote to Expressen (Swedish, English) to express their opposition to a plan proposed by Cecilia Renfors, a copyright analyst appointed by the Swedish government, in what Expressen called “Seven MPs defy the party line: Legalizing file sharing is not just the best solution, but the only solution”. Her plan was that ISPs would close down the connections of filesharers, preventing them from participating in any further copyright infringement. The condemnation for this was broad-based, from the Data inspection Board, the Competition Authority, all the way to the Swedish court of Appeal.
The message from the Moderate Party MPs to their Antipiratbyrån supporting colleagues was “be careful, they will never be satisfied”, drawing parallels to the earlier attempts to ban MP3 players, and VCRs, both areas in which, having failed to ban, industry groups are now making a profit from selling content.
Karl Sigfrid told TorrentFreak that the APB proposals make no practical sense. “I think it could be solved in theory. However, in reality, you would need such a surveillance system to achieve this that it would be all out of proportion. So I don’t think there’s a feasilbe way of stopping individuals copying. The cause for file sharing is basically that it’s possible. People have always done it to the extent that they’ve been able to. With cassette tapes 20 years ago and electronically today. Copyright laws preventing individuals from sharing information have never been legitimate in the eyes of most people.”
When asked about if it was down to content industries being slow to change their business practices, he replied: “It’s hard to say what would have happened if the content industries had been quicker releasing their material online, before the P2P networks grew mainstream. Probably the illegal filesharing would be less extensive, but it’s possible that it would still have been increasingly difficult for iTunes and such services to compete with free downloading. The change needed might be so radical that it’s no longer about selling copies of immaterial products at all.”
Rickard Falkvinge, of the Swedish Pirate Party was understandably upbeat about it. “Karl Sigfrid’s taking a stand marks a major turning point. For the first time, an established politician shows deep-down understanding of the real conflict, instead of cluelessly humming along with a technophobical luddite industry. Some other Swedish mainstream politicians have previously talked in terms of how it’s unreasonable to declare war on an entire generation. Sigfrid is the first to understand why.” His enthusiasm is understandable as, one Swedish torrent user put it “a bunch of members of The Conservative Party have started listening to the policies of The Pirate Party, and they want to jump on their bandwagon, as it’s gaining popularity”.
Gaining popularity it is, as yesterday, thirteen members of Parliament joined in another attack (Swedish only, no English translation at present) on the likes of the APB, and recording industries, saying “The record labels are obviously opposed to a development that makes them obsolete.” However, not everyone has been celebrating. Pirate Bay administrator Brokep was skeptical, saying “I’m intrigued that the debate is sparking up again. There’s been a lot of lies from the politicians. Promises and nothing has happened, so at least this will put the debate back on the map.”
The initial seven MPs were Karl Sigfrid. Margareta Cederfelt. Ulf Berg. Lena Asplund. Staffan Appelros. Lisbeth Grönfeldt Bergman and Göran Montan. Tuesdays additions were Marie Weibull Kornias,Finn Bengtsson, Ann-Charlotte Hammar Johnsson, Sven Yngve Persson, and Anders Hansson.
**UPDATE** Sorry, forgot to add this translation of the second piece, available here
Previously: Download from BitTorrent and Usenet with Your Web Server
Next: UK BitTorrent Users Under More Pressure From Lawyers
128 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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bahahaha theyll turn into China.
Lets ban everything.
Cause everyones CopyRightIn….Dirty lol
Embrace the Technology
but hey theyre pollys
theyre unpopular anyways
or as the Simpsons would say;
Lisa: The second amendment is just a remnant from revolutionary periods, it has no real meaning today
Homer: You couldn’t be more wrong Lisa. If I didn’t have this gun the King of England could just come in here and start pushing you around. Do you want that, well do ya?
Honestly, I really dont care what pollys think…
they cry lots anyways
but if the KOE put a massive lock on my internet connection
Id get a LITTLE TICKED off
Barack Obama 08′ for FreedomonTheNet
I hope these politics keep up the fight and not budging from this, that has happen to many times here in Sweden.
hopefully they will work this out. banning is not an option, and i dont think they’ll go that far. people arent known for being idiots in sweden, in general. not even politicians. most of them still think the way they did during the time the earth only had ferns living on it. but that will hopefully change.
hope they dont listen to much to the american government. that would sucks!
[quote comment="259615"]bahahaha theyll turn into China.
[/quote]
And yet it is the US of A we see taking the most inane actions against “copyright” infringement.
Maybe Simpsons should tell you to get your own head outta your ass first and then talk.
Lol.
This is awesome, politicians in sweden seem to actualy see beyond industry lies and propaganda.
It looks promising, however we all know how things can change…
Im sure they all will be bribed very soon..
No no anon, politicians can’t see those things. It’s just that they hate America.
Why is it you guys blame all this on America?
I think it’s stupid to say that. Seeing how they exist all over the world!
So put your country [HERE]. I blame it on [HERE].
You guys make it sound like there is a closed curtain at the white house with a sign saying [Secret Movie World Domination Here]
Never mind that person behind the curtain. It’s just George Bush whipping his A$$ on more religious belief’s.
He’ll be out of office soon.
And forgive the U.S.A for wanting to defend their country. It’s not like anybody died for it.
Let me think about my life here for a second……
…
……
..
.
G.A.G.
Anonymous@7, we blame the USA because we have seen (and felt) most of the pressure to clamp down on copyright infringement coming from the USA, often in ways which make us furious. Keep in mind that the US has a vested interest in tight copy controls since the entertainment industry is a major exporter.
Let’s hope that these aren’t just empty words. The more populare TPB gets, the more voters for politicians supporting TPBs doings. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction and also promising. We in germany are far from an understanding like that.
Its time for the content industry to realize that times change and the more they fight it the more obsolete they become.
I have translated the new article from
Expressen. Sorry for all misspellings and all D:
http://deathcoil.net/expressen-moderater.html
And Cheers to Torrentfreak
lol they have all watched stealthisfilm2, and dows now understand how stupid they are
That’s very cool news. As a USAmerican, I hope this newfound understanding can cross national borders as well.
[quote comment="259694"]Why is it you guys blame all this on America?
I think it’s stupid to say that. Seeing how they exist all over the world!
So put your country [HERE]. I blame it on [HERE].
You guys make it sound like there is a closed curtain at the white house with a sign saying [Secret Movie World Domination Here]
Never mind that person behind the curtain. It’s just George Bush whipping his A$$ on more religious belief’s.
He’ll be out of office soon.
And forgive the U.S.A for wanting to defend their country. It’s not like anybody died for it.
Let me think about my life here for a second……
…
……
..
.
G.A.G.[/quote]
Move out of your Amerifreedomghetto for a year and see it the other way for a bit. We can’t really be blamed for what we feel.
@7
why do we blame america, hhhmmmmmmm, good question.
1. it was AMERICA that put pressure on the swedish government so they would raid the pirate bay servers.
2. AMERICA is CONSTANTLY thinking it is the sheriff of the world and point #1 is one of hundreds of examples.
3. AMERICAn MPAA and RIAA are ALWAYS bitching about copyright laws in OTHER countries. get your own backyard sorted first, THEN come to mine.
4. the world in general is SICK AND TIRED of AMERICA thinking they can exert their power over everyone else . reminds me of a grade 4 bully but then they eventually get their ass kicked :)
sorry to group all americans in that rant as i know not everyone is like that or supports it. but seriously, generalizations are ALWAYS there for a good and valid reason.
ps AMERICA - your laws STOP at YOUR border.
You dorks have no idea how stupid you sound. You steal from American musicians and then bitch like little girls when they want to stop you. What exactly do think is going to happen? Bands are going to spend a lot of money on recording, touring and promotion so you can steal their work? That they’ll make records out of sheer goodness of their heart just to entertain you for free? Here’s a heads up: You’re wrong, and likely mentally disturbed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
Ever considered that they earn ALOT of money on touring?
The average artist get like, what? 1-2usd per sold album at the most. If they would publish them on the internet like Radiohead they would most likley be able to earn more money in total.
Radiohead just put their album out for sale, Einstein.
And you don’t know jackshit about bands and touring. Bands don’t make DICK touring unless they’re already huge. Bands tour to PROMOTE and SELL their albums.
Now go see a shrink.
@15: Best PS ever seen!
@16: you have not carefully read @15.
Key point: my law stops at my border, as your law stops at your border. Is that not correct?
@18:
Can you quote some sources to back up this statement that bands don’t make much money touring, and that they do it only to promote and sell albums?
I’ve seen that claim before, made by anonymous/pseudonymous people on internet debates, but I have also heard actual BAND MEMBERS say the opposite, many times.
For example, John Vanderslice, who I talked to after a show, said that he and his band mostly live off merch sales at concerts. In a 2005 interview (http://www.sctas.com/21/JV.html), he says, “I love file sharing to be honest. I don’t think it effects [sic] record sales (it seems to help me) and I think the goodwill has to be a good thing.”
Maybe he’s the exception to the rule, but I don’t think so. As for the REALLY small bands, they’re making no money period, are lucky to break even on CD releases, and still have day jobs for that reason — and it’s not because of internet piracy. (I know a lot of artists like this.)
I work in this business, and I see it first-hand. John Vanderslice makes his money producing.
None of this matters really, as there is going to be an ISP music fee, and people will have unlimited free downloads, thus rendering pirate sites passe.
@15
That was the stupidest post I’ve ever read.
You really have problems. Get your facts right before you tear apart a nation which you have no understanding of.
I don’t think that as much as everyone would want to that they can blame it on the U.S. by it’s self. You have to remember that regardless of the country as long as there’s big business they’ll want to earn as much money as possible. If something like pirating is preventing the big business’ from making as much money as they want then they’ll go after it. Besides other companies in other countries have tried to curtail pirating also, though needless to say not to the extent that the U.S. has. Just wait until a new generation gets into the governments around the world that are used to pirating and grew up with it then we’ll truly see what will happen.
@23 LOL. “yeah man, there’s gonna be a pirate in the white house someday!”
You have NPD. Go get yourself some help.
in the end notting will get done
thats politics for you
its just all talk and no action
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