Pirate Bay Verdict May Actually Lead To Pirate Party Official Joining European Parliament
from the you've-started-a-movement dept
While the entertainment industry still really seems to think that the disputed verdict in the Pirate Bay trial was a victory, most folks who can look beyond the immediate ruling have recognized what a horrific loss this has been for the industry. On the technology side, it's done nothing of importance. Even if The Pirate Bay is eventually shut down, there are at least a dozen other sites to step in and take up the slack. On the business model side, shutting down The Pirate Bay will do nothing to fix a seriously broken business model. But, perhaps most important of all, the industry is pushing more and more people over the edge, from indifferent to the industry, to actively working against the industry. I expected the uselessness of the verdict when it came to tech and business models, but I didn't realize that it would energize people on the political side as well.There's been lots of talk about how the verdict massively increased the number of Swedes joining The Pirate Party, but the big question is whether or not it will be enough people to make a difference, and will they actually follow through. The initial showings are impressive. A new political poll shows that the party's popularity has grown tremendously, to the point that if a vote were held today, The Pirate Party would gain a seat in the European Parliament. It's now become the second largest party for voters in the 18 to 29 age group. This isn't just a random fringe group that the industry (and other politicians) can completely dismiss. It is still small, but what's amazing is how the industry's blatant shortsightedness has given rise to an entire political movement that keeps attracting more and more members. It seems likely that the entertainment industry still doesn't realize what sort of backlash it's creating, but at some point, it might want to start paying attention.
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Filed Under: europe, european parliament, pirate party, sweden
Companies: the pirate bay
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Actually, it's not the industry (spectrial was one great show, but still, just one show). One should look at their growth in the light of a) A massive surveillance law (FRA, the Swedish mini-NSA (or, if you prefer, STASI)), b) the over-implemented EU directive (IPRED), and, in the pipeline, other EU stuff requiring ISP to store traffic data.
I'd say the Pirate partys biggest support comes from (in order) the sitting swedish government (M), ther predcessors (S), end EU.
How could they avoid getting votes with such supporters?
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Re:
Maybe we have an opportunity to replace them.
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People who want to dismiss the party often describe it as a group of people who want everything for free without having to pay. However, since the Pirate Party was the driving force behind the wiretapping law protests it's hard to write them off so easily and more and more people are beginning to see that. The fact that both the large party to the right and the large party to the left supports these wiretapping laws, the Ipred1 law (although they may disagree on some details) and that they will probably also implement the EU data retention directive without any protest means that people are beginning to feel dejected and look for something else - including people who couldn't care less about file sharing but are worried about basic human rights and want the internet to stay open. So this is about much more than just copyright reform.
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I Dunno...
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The Way I See It
So big content started a war and eventually the war must end. Maybe the pirate party will simply grow so strong that they abolish copyright. Or maybe big content will crush the pirate party by going even further in owning the current politicians. We'll just have to sit back and see.
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Correcting your statement of calling democrats communists since a communist performs a fast revolution of power typically through force. Since democrats are using the currently established laws of the land to push agendas this is SOCIALISM.
Communism and socialism have very similar goals and long term ideals. However their short term solutions are completely different.
Now that you know more go forth in the world and stop using communism to describe people trying to pass laws or policies in a country and not overthrowing the established government at gunpoint.
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Sign me up
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Love,
The American Govt.
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Whatever, communism has been defeated!
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True enough
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That is true, since when was controlling the House of Representatives, Senate, and Presidency relevant to anyone?
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Re: Sign me up
http://www.pirate-party.us/
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That being said, the United States has always been quite a bit socialist (free-market never existed and can't exist while the idiots in congress keep pushing pens around and making new regulations and laws about things they can't comprehend). Yes, we're becoming more socialist all the time, but that is what happens when your government is directly involved in economics.
I personally would love to see a grass-roots movement take the current government by storm, but the two major political parties are too entrenched and would stifle anything that threatens their power, so I can't really see it happening...
To be honest, I think our country's political leaning is more towards that of an oligarchy - the rule of the masses by a select few/rich.
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The two words have different meanings depending on who you ask or what you're studying. The government vs. economics distinction isn't always how those words are used. Sometimes the words are interchangeable. Sometimes communism is a superset of socialism. Sometimes one is a euphemism for the other.
Depending on the context, the difference between those words is pretty useless.
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Re: I Dunno...
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My fingers are in my ears, I can't hear you!
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Except the Libertarian party, despite its other views, tends to be a big supporter of government granted monopolies when it comes to copyrights and patents. Funny, huh?
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Re: Sign me up
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State of the Industry
But that is another story, this kind on copyright should "protect" (not give them undeserved rights) the content creators only and not the content promoters and packagers.
But the recording companies will go the same way as the "carriage" manufacturers, with the same "kicking and screaming" pattern. But when your time has come, your time has come.
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anyone remember way back when
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anyone remember way back when
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The outcome will be mainstreaming of fair use policies
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On the other hand the traditional parties are starting their election campaigns about now which will shift focus to issues on which the Pirate Party doesn't have an opinion. That may hurt them somewhat. There are also lots of uncertain voters and it's difficult to predict what parties they will support.
It'll be interesting to see how the balance between these things turn out on the election day.
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European Elections
I am not so sure that the European Commission would not simply dismiss Christian Engström. Especially if he carried on with the antics that gets the Pirate Bay into the headlines.
Although presumably he would have been chosen on at the top of the party list because he could be a sensible parliamentarian.
If one were on the left, one might be annoyed that the protest vote is going to the Pirate Party. According to the article the votes for the Pirate Party are coming out of the Left Party and the Green Party.
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Re: The Way I See It
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Re: The Way I See It
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Control
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New poll
http://www.predict09.eu/default/en-us/state_analyses.aspx#sweden
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