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March 10, 2007
The Pirates of Scandinavia
Piracy is becoming a real problem, not only for private enterprise but also--or
perhaps first and foremost--for multinational mega-corporations and
nation-states. The problem is discussed at international conferences and at
political summits attended by great state leaders. But there is still no real
solution in sight to this increasing problem.
The pirates seem to strike
everywhere and they tend to always get away with it. They cause enormous damage
(at least, according to the “right” sources) but the authorities are unable to
aggressively seek a solution to this problem. The inefficiency of anti-piracy
measures is partly due to vague and unclear legislation and partly due to legal
and practical limitations to measures efficient and effective enough.
A recent report on piracy
“specially mentions” the Kingdom of Sweden
as a refuge for pirate groups, claiming they “have flourished ... due to this
country’s notoriety as a piracy safe haven.” Pirates in Scandinavia in general,
and especially in Sweden, it seems, are trying to live up to the ill-deserved
reputation of their old-time (700–1200 AD) “pirating” Viking forbears.
Furthermore, the pirates
seem to enjoy widespread support from the general public despite the claimed
destruction of their actions. This popular support of piracy tends to cripple
government and enforcement of The Law. While this causes enormous frustration
among corporations dependent on government enforcement of protective laws,
piracy is said to cause enormous costs and violate rights of producers of
value.
For last year’s general
election a new party, The Pirate Party,
was formed around the issue of piracy: they called for abolishing all
anti-piracy laws and bring government registration of pirates to an end. The
party, formed only nine months before the elections in September, gained an
impressive 0.63 % of the votes despite other parties feeling compelled to
embrace piracy in their campaigns (they have all abandoned this issue by
now).
Piracy in Sweden has no
doubt become pervasive. A large part of the population is partaking in acts of
piracy and is even said to be benefiting from it by gaining access to products
and services without paying the required fees and taxes. The aforementioned
report on piracy purposely mentions Sweden “due to [its] widespread internet
piracy” and calls for a political solution to the problem.
Especially the
state-supported guild of Hollywood intellectual rights-holders are putting
enormous political pressure on governments all over the world, like Sweden’s, to
reinforce existing laws for the protection of “intellectual” privilege and
fortify government-sanctioned special rights.
Owing to the enormous
resources spent by the Hollywood guild the Swedish government has managed to
derogate the right to freedom of speech through enacting new laws and
establishing a new praxis for fighting piracy. It is a matter of necessity.
Infrastructure used for piracy, i.e. the private property of individuals who
have not in any way committed crimes and thus cannot be (and haven’t been)
convicted, has been temporarily stolen by goons with government hats in the name
of “property rights.”
In a recent
raid against a Stockholm-based company Swedish government goons were
explicitly (illegally) directed by representatives of the Hollywood guild,
acting on the guild’s and US
government’s mandate (official
comments), ensuring everything on the premises was confiscated. Surveillance
cameras, before being covered or destroyed by the government hat people and
representatives of the guild, caught the anti-pirate mob on
tape making sure no equipment was left behind.
This case was followed by
the media
worldwide, and especially in the so-called blogosphere, but its real effects
are so far almost unnoticed to the general public. The pirates are still online
and the number of pirates in the Swedish population is ever increasing. However,
there have been quite a few restrictions made in the rights the Swedish
government grants its people. The restrictions have been made exclusively to
accommodate the Hollywood guild and its partner government.
Piracy, in this case, is
simple sharing of information, often movies, music, or images, over computer
networks. Such file sharing violate copyright laws and such actions are thus
claimed to be “theft” (even though nothing has been forcefully taken from the
creator). A cartel of governments and mega-corporations are working to ban
technology and the free exchange of information in order to protect the
state-granted privilege of “intellectual property.”
In a not too distant future
the government is likely to put an end to piracy and through it increase its own
powers. Rights have never been a core concept in Swedish legislation, and the
encumbrance the few existing rights are to the government in exercising its
important authority needs to be done away with.
One better choose side;
either you’re with the government or you’re against it. Pirate or civilian
alike.
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