Copyright as a political platform
In the European Union, the 2009 Parliamentary elections are just coming to a close. While many pundits have been discussing the possible gains for right and Euro-sceptic parties, there has also been some discussion about a party whose entire platform relates to copyright. In Sweden, 7 percent of the country’s votes went toward the Pirate Party which claims to aim to reduce the scope of copyright, legalize file-sharing for personal use, and abolish patents.
The Pirate Party is an organization distinct from the the NGO Piratbyrån and The Pirate Bay BitTorrent tracker, but its popularity exploded earlier this year after a Swedish court sentenced four Swedes to a year in jail for running The Pirate Bay tracker.
The 7 percent result will likely amount to only 1 or 2 seats at the European Parliament, but, considering the party has no other platform, these results are – at the very least – symbolic of the disjoint between laws and social attitudes. This is even more true amongst younger voters: approximately 19 percent of voters under 30 cast a vote for the Pirate Party. “They are the biggest party among young people, bigger than both the Social Democrats and the Moderates,” said politics professor Sören Holmberg.
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