Sweden’s Pirate Party Announces Election Agenda

As we have mentioned here before, the Piratpatiet (or Pirate Party) from Sweden is a major, vocal supporter of “private communication and file sharing” throughout the world, and especially within their home country. The Pirate Party was supportive of the torrent tracker site The Pirate Bay during the unfortunate raid by local police that occurred earlier this year.

Sweden has historically been a tolerant society that placed high value on privacy rights and freedom from unreasonable copyright laws. However, a recent shift in the political winds, and a major scandal involving the proprietors of the torrent tracker site The Pirate Bay, has put more pressure on local authorities to prosecute intellectual property rights offenders vigorously.

In light of the recent raid on The Pirate Bay (charges are still pending), pro-piracy crusaders, like The Pirate Party, began to see the need to strengthen their political connections. Political aspirations have motivated the groups founder, Rikard Falkvinge, to release a manifesto detailing the political platform of the party, in hopes that it will spur voters to turn out in support when local elections are held this coming September 17.

The manifesto promotes the party’s three issue agenda: “Protected integrity in an open society”, “Private communication and file sharing” and “The spreading of culture and knowledge is a positive thing”. The influence wielded by The Pirate Party is significant; powerful enough that it has caused changes in policy at both the local and National levels in Sweden.

The eventual aim of The Pirate Party is to win “adjustment seats” which would allow them to control 14 seats in parliament. Once that happens, The Pirate Party will be able to negotiate to become a part of the ruling party. According to the poll numbers, with less than 18 days left before voting begins, the party has little chance of gaining the required number of votes.

However, with just over 8,000 members The Pirate Party is larger than The Greens, a party which currently holds 17 seats. When they do win, and at this point it is likely just a matter of time, file sharing, copyright law and information exchange in general will become more free for everyone!

Via slyc

As we have mentioned here before, the Piratpatiet (or Pirate Party) from Sweden is a major, vocal supporter of “private communication and file sharing” throughout the world, and especially within their home country. The Pirate Party was supportive of the torrent tracker site The Pirate Bay during the unfortunate raid by local police that occurred earlier this year.

Sweden has historically been a tolerant society that placed high value on privacy rights and freedom from unreasonable copyright laws. However, a recent shift in the political winds, and a major scandal involving the proprietors of the torrent tracker site The Pirate Bay, has put more pressure on local authorities to prosecute intellectual property rights offenders vigorously.

In light of the recent raid on The Pirate Bay (charges are still pending), pro-piracy crusaders, like The Pirate Party, began to see the need to strengthen their political connections. Political aspirations have motivated the groups founder, Rikard Falkvinge, to release a manifesto detailing the political platform of the party, in hopes that it will spur voters to turn out in support when local elections are held this coming September 17.

The manifesto promotes the party’s three issue agenda: “Protected integrity in an open society”, “Private communication and file sharing” and “The spreading of culture and knowledge is a positive thing”. The influence wielded by The Pirate Party is significant; powerful enough that it has caused changes in policy at both the local and National levels in Sweden.

The eventual aim of The Pirate Party is to win “adjustment seats” which would allow them to control 14 seats in parliament. Once that happens, The Pirate Party will be able to negotiate to become a part of the ruling party. According to the poll numbers, with less than 18 days left before voting begins, the party has little chance of gaining the required number of votes.

However, with just over 8,000 members The Pirate Party is larger than The Greens, a party which currently holds 17 seats. When they do win, and at this point it is likely just a matter of time, file sharing, copyright law and information exchange in general will become more free for everyone!

Via slyc