The Pirate Bay and Filesharers Backed by Swedish Politicians
Written by Ernesto on February 09, 2008Two weeks ago we reported on Greens EFA launching the pro-filesharing campaign “I Wouldn’t Steal“. With new editorials in Swedish newspapers coinciding with The Pirate Bay’s charges, it seems the Green Party is looking to push the issue forward, thereby supporting The Pirate Bay.
In recent years, the Swedish Green Party, which holds 19 seats in parliament, has taken a clear stance on filesharing. Following the raid on The Pirate Bay in 2006, the party board released a memo entitled “Free the files!” in which they suggested to fully legalize non-commercial filesharing.
When asked about the purpose of the memo in 2006, party spokesperson Peter Eriksson said: “Our aim is to make laws in line with the new technologies. The other option is to pretend that you can go on like you always have, although it’s practically impossible. Reality has changed.”
One of the driving forces behind the recent “I Wouldn’t Steal” campaign from the European Green parties was the Swedish politician Carl Schlyter, and his initiative seems to have spurred others in the party to join the debate. Earlier this week, an editorial was published in two local Swedish newspapers. It was titled “Filesharing is not theft” and was written by Akko Karlsson, member of the Swedish Green Party’s executive board.
In the editorial, Akko argued that filesharing can’t be compared to theft, as theft is when someone takes away the possibility for another person to use something, whereas filesharing only creates a new copy without erasing the original.
“For me, this is a generation issue,” said Akko Karlsson when TorrentFreak asked her why she decided to write the editorial. “You should always endorse the new technologies’ possibilities.”
In her editorial, Akko criticizes the entertainment industry’s failing to enter the information age with working business models:
“You could argue that filesharing hinders some people from earning as much money as they would have if filesharing was not possible. But now it is possible, the technology is there, and then the industry needs to find new ways of handling it. They’ve had the chance to work on new ways for 10 years but haven’t come up with much else than silly trailers that say filesharing is theft. [...] When new technology emerges, it’s not necessarily it that must be adapted to the old ways. Sometimes, the industry itself must adapt.”
Akko further told TorrentFreak that she’s convinced that filesharing, copyright and integrity will be important issues for Green Party in the 2009 elections for the European Parliament and the 2010 elections in Sweden.
“Because there is also the democratic aspect of this,” she says, “There are so many people under repressive regimes for whom filesharing and the Internet is the link to the rest of the world that inspires, gives hope and makes it endurable to fight for human rights and democracy. The state’s control system is expanding. We used to heavily criticize the intrusions of privacy and control systems in place behind the Iron Curtain, but now we are building this ourselves.”
In Swedish old media, there’s currently a heated argument against filesharing, with novelists like Liza Marklund and Jan Guillou using every inch of their weekly columns in Swedish newspapers to lobby for tougher measures. With the trial against The Pirate Bay coming up, the debate has sunk even deeper in the trenches. In this climate, for politicians to step up to the plate with sound arguments why filesharing should be legalized seems like a bold move.
But Akko Karlsson is not alone.
On January 31, an editorial was published in Gothenburg’s daily newspaper. It was written by Green Party’s Lage Rahm, member of Parliament, party spokesperson on IT issues and substitute member on The Committee on Industry and Trade. On the subject of the ongoing case against The Pirate Bay, he called for reason when it comes to impose tougher measures on filesharing:
“Not only is the struggle [to end illegal filesharing] doomed to fail, it also creates a risk that filesharing on the Internet becomes anonymized and encrypted. An increased availability of untraceable networks will make it harder to fight organized crime.”
As an example, Lage Rahm put forward the bust of a pedophile ring with more than 700 suspects in 33 countries last year. This was done by tracking chatrooms, downloaded photos and e-mail.
“Most people realize that the police and copyright interest groups are fighting against windmills. [...] Convicting sentences against The Pirate Bay would have merely marginal effects on the scope of illegal filesharing. More severe is that the hunt will lead to an increased interest for absolute anonymity among Sweden’s approximately 1 million filesharers. Their activity will move to untraceable darknets.”
He focused on the dangers of Internet communities going underground and concluded:
“New technologies mean we as legislators are faced with an entirely new reality. Tougher measures against filesharing means risking the police’s possibilities of fighting child pornography and organized crime. It is worrying that the Minister of Justice doesn’t seem to realize this. For The Green Party, this is one of the main arguments of legalizing non-commercial downloading. [...] The Minister of Justice should leave to the industry to clear up the mess they have made for themselves. Judicial resources should be diverted to fight severe online criminality instead of hunting filesharing sixteen-year-olds.”
So, what does this all mean for the European filesharer? Well, one thing is sure, political parties that actually have power are taking a pro-filesharing stance. A sign that things are moving forward, slowly, but in the right direction.
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63 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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Just hope the greens will stand by this. And if they get enough power in the elections keeps fighting for filesharing. I have seen empty promises like these before in the last election in Sweden…
Obviously they cannot come out in support of TPB (due to the legalities) so they are doing everything they can to raise awareness.
It’s hard to find fault in their reasoning…and I think that a lot of Swedish filesharers are going to vote for this party!
The arguments and the ideology for file sharing is all obvious and clear, we just need the support now. So this is good to see.
Scrooge: Actually, there is nothing whatsoever stopping a politician in Sweden coming out in support of The Pirate Bay.
All of the youth league politicians save one of them (the conservative Christian Democrats) have done so, several MPs in parliament from the Moderates have, and now the Greens are starting to speak up.
Not to mention us (The Pirate Party), of course.
Rick (pp)
I’m bored with all of this, what is the ultimate goal here? to make piracy legal, to decriminalize it? Sweden is cool and progressive and all, but what are they actually trying to say about piracy and intellectual property? This isn’t weed we’re talking about here, where legalisation would eliminate much organised crime, and generate taxes to build roads and shit, and also actually GIVE people jobs…
If we take away SOME form of prosecution for piracy, and have politicians supporting it in their campaigns then there really is going to be no way for artists, musicians, novelists and film makers to make a friggin’ dime… or do we want everything to be permeated with aggressive advertising?
I just don’t see where this is going? I mean I steal shit, I know I do, and I will as long as I can. If they do find a way to clamp down on bittorrent, then us pirates, will find another way to steal our shit… but we still need the majority of lemmings to keep going to virgin and HMV and itunes.com to pay so people can eat…
Just my 2 cents…
@tingtonglong
But if you could buy stuff with less hassle and cheaper you would do that wouldn’t you?
And if the filesharing wasn’t illegal for non commerial use it would get all the companies to get their act together and make some greate services.
The pirate movement isn’t just about get “free shit”, it’s about a lot more. Like the freedom of internet.
When wind starts blowing, someone take cover and someone build Windmill’s.
Think about it.
Dam I wish I were in Sweeden where all the action is, over here in Australia people never mention anything to do with file sharing.
I think it is naive to think that people are using bittorrent in an effort to force big companies to clean up their acts. I believe that the big companies will find other ways to rip you off, just like pirates will find other ways to steal shit so they don’t get ripped off, no?
Since the 80s release groups have been pirating, and people have been using 2 vcr’s to copy tapes from the video store. It has been just as long that CEOs of record labels and hollywood producers have been fuelling their coke habits and buying golf courses…
It is that longevity that makes me think nothing will change in this war: piracy vs. corporate corruption.
I’d love to see the radiohead model work. You try, you like, you buy. But it won’t because too many people want a piece of the pie… And I’m gonna steal mine because I refuse to pay for some guy’s bentley!!!!
BTW, has anyone noticed that the new radiohead album is on sale in Starbucks for 15 dollars? WTF is that shit?
this is great news if I lived in sweden I’d definitely be voting green, I wish there were something I could to help support them
I’m Swedish, so let me give you my perspective on this particular article:
This is probably one of the few, even remotely sane things, the greens have ever hatched, ever, EVER. Problem with the greens, is that they’re idealists more than anything else. In other words, they’ve got their heads stuck up their smug arses most of the time. For example, their party congress suggested something along the lines of making a motion to illegalize making money from money or some such a few years ago. Their board responded along the lines of “are you guys f**king nuts? That would make pensions illegal!!!1″. In other words: The greens may have a few seats in parliment, but that’s like 19 out of 349, and they’re just above the 4% limit needed to get into/stay in parliment. Most responsible people don’t take them very seriously, even if the greens sometimes do suggest somewhat sane things.
My five cents…
[quote comment="285255"]Obviously they cannot come out in support of TPB (due to the legalities) so they are doing everything they can to raise awareness.
[/quote]
uhm.. TPB is legal so far so why wouldnt they be able to do that?
As for the filesharing thats “illigal” they already support it.
In fact most swedes support it, something like 80% even.
More on topic:
You see these futile attemts of control (almost beginning to look like the RIAA mess in US) by lobby organisations becoming more and more desperate, and all you can do realy is to support pro filesharing politicians.
What sucks though is that none of the bigger parties has taken a stance yet, though M (Moderaterna, right wing) seems to be leaning towards pro filesharing, and S (socialdemokraterna, left wing) seems to be against it.
The ones who go pro will defenetly win next election though considering the amount of pro’s in swedish population ;)
Filesharing is a big topic in sweden, it would be supricing if the other parties dont take real stances soon as the green party have done.
i think its good that this issue is bieng discussed and debated in parlement somewhere, as law is essentially supposed to be the morals of the majority of the population, so as more and more people move over to support file sharing of all kinds, the laws should change proportionally.
and as for the argument that it costs artists money, for the vast majority of artists, almost all there money is earned through touring and merchandise as for all the major record labels, the artist only actually earns approximately 11cents per track per sale, so unless there in a mega-band, that number is tiny comared to the usual pre-arranged fees for shows (usually closer to 25-50% of the shows proffit from my limited experiance)
Sweden has a king, right, why don’t they exterminate their aristocracy instead of wanking ?
It´s really strange the way you think tingtonglong. You think you are a thief and the other people needs to buy the products that you are supposed to steal. Don´t you think that maybe the model they are still using is old and the filesharing are pushing then to change their model? Or are you pretending to be who you really aren’t? things will change, its a matter of time. I do write softwares and I do write, and I don’t have problems in sharing. People download my books, and if they like, they buy the books. The idiots didn’t see yet that file sharing its the better way to spread their works and its free for them.
[quote comment="285370"]Sweden has a king, right, why don’t they exterminate their aristocracy instead of wanking ?[/quote]
Swedes in general like the king/the monarchy, and it would be political suicide to actually try to abolish it. Besides, he hasn’t got any real power, he’s more like a quaint showpiece. In fact, that’s probably why swedes like him.
[quote comment="285283"]I’m bored with all of this, what is the ultimate goal here? to make piracy legal, to decriminalize it? Sweden is cool and progressive and all, but what are they actually trying to say about piracy and intellectual property? This isn’t weed we’re talking about here, where legalisation would eliminate much organised crime, and generate taxes to build roads and shit, and also actually GIVE people jobs…
If we take away SOME form of prosecution for piracy, and have politicians supporting it in their campaigns then there really is going to be no way for artists, musicians, novelists and film makers to make a friggin’ dime… or do we want everything to be permeated with aggressive advertising?
I just don’t see where this is going? I mean I steal shit, I know I do, and I will as long as I can. If they do find a way to clamp down on bittorrent, then us pirates, will find another way to steal our shit… but we still need the majority of lemmings to keep going to virgin and HMV and itunes.com to pay so people can eat…
Just my 2 cents…[/quote]
Look at history, years ago, the industries said the same about the VCR - the world didn’t end
They said it about audio cassettes - the world didn’t end
Before that, they said the same about cable TV - the world didn’t end
they said the same about radio - the world didn’t end
They said it about phonographs, and player piano’s - the world didn’t end.
This is a battle that has been replayed half a dozen times over the last 100 years. The arguments on either side haven’t changed. each time the industry has ended up profiting more from the new technology. The only difference this time, is that as well as duplication, its undermined the distribution networks.
These job and economy arguments are also a nice twist of numbers, in an attempt to fool those with a poor grasp of economics. the money doesn’t dissapear from the economy, it goes elsewhere.
[quote comment="285283"]I’m bored with all of this, what is the ultimate goal here? to make piracy legal, to decriminalize it? Sweden is cool and progressive and all, but what are they actually trying to say about piracy and intellectual property? This isn’t weed we’re talking about here, where legalisation would eliminate much organised crime, and generate taxes to build roads and shit, and also actually GIVE people jobs…
If we take away SOME form of prosecution for piracy, and have politicians supporting it in their campaigns then there really is going to be no way for artists, musicians, novelists and film makers to make a friggin’ dime… or do we want everything to be permeated with aggressive advertising?
I just don’t see where this is going? I mean I steal shit, I know I do, and I will as long as I can. If they do find a way to clamp down on bittorrent, then us pirates, will find another way to steal our shit… but we still need the majority of lemmings to keep going to virgin and HMV and itunes.com to pay so people can eat…
Just my 2 cents…[/quote]
art in any form should never be about making money. years ago artists, poets, writers were mainly piss poor and broke and only the very very best ever made any money out of it. the art world today is too easy and if legalised file sharing means that most musicians will have to go out and get real jobs then good. a real artist will always make art and will do whatever they can to carry on doing so, it should never be about making money and living the high life style. if you legalised file sharing then it would filter out the crap who are only in it for the money and leave us only with the true artists. this goes for film makers too.
We would still have to come up with some clever scheme to give those who were really into making music a chance to make a living. If the artists all had to work ten hours a day in a convenience store there wouldn’t be much time left to write songs and practice.
But I have faith. There are quite a lot of us around - someone is bound to come up with something clever sooner or later.
nice comments. let hope they still stick on it after **AA DUMP MONEY
Everyone should take economics as soon as they are able.
That’s all i have to say. The implications of downloading someone’s work over the Internet is so extremely complicated, even I don’t understand some parts of it.
[quote comment="285283"]I’m bored with all of this, what is the ultimate goal here? to make piracy legal, to decriminalize it? Sweden is cool and progressive and all, but what are they actually trying to say about piracy and intellectual property? This isn’t weed we’re talking about here, where legalisation would eliminate much organised crime, and generate taxes to build roads and shit, and also actually GIVE people jobs…
If we take away SOME form of prosecution for piracy, and have politicians supporting it in their campaigns then there really is going to be no way for artists, musicians, novelists and film makers to make a friggin’ dime… or do we want everything to be permeated with aggressive advertising?
I just don’t see where this is going? I mean I steal shit, I know I do, and I will as long as I can. If they do find a way to clamp down on bittorrent, then us pirates, will find another way to steal our shit… but we still need the majority of lemmings to keep going to virgin and HMV and itunes.com to pay so people can eat…
Just my 2 cents…[/quote]
Filesharing is much more than just stealing stuff and getting free shit. It’s a movement. Oh, and people will still be paid. I just downloaded a Disturbed Album and loved it. I’m going to see one of their concerts in the summer now. Would I have found their music otherwise? Hell no! I wouldnt waste $20 on some group i dont know. I wouldnt waste $20 period! I get the music online for free, and if i like, i go to a show and buy some of their crappy tshirts. thats a much greater business model, rather than paying $20 everytime i want a change in my music. oh, and for every album you buy, the artist will be lucky if he/she sees even 5 pennies.
there really is a generation gap here.
this is the 21st century not the 20th century.
As time pass, more people with possitive attitude towards filesharing will be entering political chairs, as well as be a part of the jobs in the music industry. And belive it or not, they will also be judges, lawyers and so on.
This is a war that is more and more lost for each day that pass by.
[quote comment="285431"]We would still have to come up with some clever scheme to give those who were really into making music a chance to make a living. If the artists all had to work ten hours a day in a convenience store there wouldn’t be much time left to write songs and practice.
But I have faith. There are quite a lot of us around - someone is bound to come up with something clever sooner or later.[/quote]
Concerts perhaps? Excellent discussion here by the way… I live in the politically repressed country of the United States where it’s now impossible for the government and laws to model the current ways of thinking. Between the generational gap of the moden internet and the politicians here, it’s impossible for anything sensical like this to happen. The Swedes look like the can actually think through an issue and then adjust accordingly. Where as here, the response is “BAN IT!!!!! The record conglomerates can never afford that third jet if you start copying episodes of Seinfeld”
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