Monday, June 8th 2009
Pirate Party Elected to EU Parliament
The Pirate Party silenced skeptics, gathering enough votes in the European Union elections this year, to make it to the Parliament from Sweden. This serves as a huge victory to the party whose ideology revolves around fighting harsh and archaic copyright laws and enforcement agencies, that it finds incompatible with the digital age we live in. The party secured 7.1 percent of the 99.9 percent districts' votes counted, which guarantees at least one of the 18 or 20 seats Sweden contributes to the EU Parliament. Sweden has 20 seats, but until the Lisbon treaty passes only 18 with voting rights. In this case, the party might secure 2 seats.
Rick Falkvinge, leader of the party, in a statement to TorrentFreak said "Together, we have today changed the landscape of European politics. No matter how this night ends, we have changed it." National and International press gathered in Stockholm, where the party celebrates its landmark victory. "This feels wonderful. The citizens have understood it's time to make a difference. The older politicians have taken apart young peoples' lifestyle, bit by bit. We do not accept that the authorities' mass-surveillance," Falkvinge added.
The voter turnout for the elections was 43 percent. Nearly 200,000 people voted for The Pirate Party, way up from its performance in the 2006 Swedish national elections, where it secured 34,918 votes. With their presence in the EU Parliament, the party wants to fight the abuses of power and copyright laws at the hands of the entertainment industries, and make those activities illegal instead. On the other hand they hope to legalize file-sharing for personal (non-commercial) use.
Source:
TorrentFreak
Rick Falkvinge, leader of the party, in a statement to TorrentFreak said "Together, we have today changed the landscape of European politics. No matter how this night ends, we have changed it." National and International press gathered in Stockholm, where the party celebrates its landmark victory. "This feels wonderful. The citizens have understood it's time to make a difference. The older politicians have taken apart young peoples' lifestyle, bit by bit. We do not accept that the authorities' mass-surveillance," Falkvinge added.
268 Comments on Pirate Party Elected to EU Parliament
Thats all I'm gonna say...
People these days:shadedshu
I rather would have seen a party for not banning and censoring games for adults to save the youth.
Anyway I hope this will actually do some good, perhaps pressure some positive changes to the digital world.
I for one dont recognize them anymore. They are no longer a business, they instead make a living now solely on suing. The pirate part is for net neutrality and strong privacy. Not letting these companies gang up on you and steal all your money under the guise of artists losing money.
Thats just my opinion.
This is part of a big shakeup - yes, some people will lose out in the meantime. but in the long term, things will get re-organised and sorted out the way the majority wants - and not the way the rich people want.
We have a nazi, and we have a pirate LOL.
anyway To those artists who are only too concerned over their profits. You only get so much of the royalties. And music, and your image and your influence should be your concern, and not your wallet.
I've seen too many artists turn into crap when they go major. If you make music for the sake of money then forget about it. Its not music.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out...
This is one great step towards a more democratic Europe. The idea is great and the only ones who probably won't benefit from the Pirate Party's ideas are the big companies (who already made tons of money, even with the piracy at hand).
For instance: if you're a musician that makes quality music and have ideas about making money from it ... you always can do some concerts/parties, sell vinyls/cds, promoting your work via sharing it freely on the web - i can bet you won't be having any problems :)
Let the creativity be the deciding factor ... not money.
Their other (2) ideas are a lot more serious/realistic though. Namely altering the (pharmaceutical) patenting system and protecting our privacy instead giving it up to America's fear of terrorists and whatnot. Considering plenty of politicians believe in fairy tales anyway and base their view of the world on that I don't see the Pirate Party as something bad.