[tc] (senza oggetto)

[nk a 81100.eu.org]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/29/swedish_pirates_electoral_assault/

The leader of the pro-filesharing Swedish Pirate Party is co-ordinating
a pan-European electoral assault for 2009's European Elections.

Rick Falvinge told OUT-LAW Radio that it would be the first ever
political platform that stretched across Europe.

Sweden is the home of the Pirate Party, but examples have since sprung
up all over Europe. It is these which Falvinge hopes to unite in time
for elections to the European Parliament in June 2009.

"We are investigating the possibility of running as the first major
pan-European party with a common platform across all countries," said
Falvinge. "We are seeing this as the next logical step that we should
run on a common platform throughout Europe so that if you look at the
French Pirate Party or the Spanish Pirate Party they should have the
same programme as the Swedish Pirate Party when we run for the common
parliament."

Falvinge said the German and Austrian parties were already on board and
that discussions were ongoing with others. There are Pirate Parties in
Spain, France, Poland, Italy and Belgium.

The movement began in Sweden on 1 January this year, but was given a
major boost when an associated unauthorised download links site, Pirate
Bay, was raided by Swedish police. There was public outcry which only
worsened when it emerged that the US administration had put pressure on
Sweden to act against Pirate Bay.

The movement mushroomed and its international expansion grew from there.
Falvinge, speaking to OUT-LAW's weekly podcast, said the party stands
for far more than simply legalising file sharing.

"That we are pro-filesharing is a consequence of us being pro-civil
liberties," said Falvinge. "We are pro-civil liberties for the exact
same reason that the entertainment industry is against civil liberties,
because they have a bottom line to protect.

"The entertainment industry is what drives today's witch hunt on civil
liberties," he said. "DRM technologies is the large media cartels' way
of writing their own laws to circumvent copyright laws and we do have an
elected parliament to write such laws."

Falvinge claims that despite the disappointing result, his party has had
some policy victories in Sweden. "We have seriously influenced the
debate here in Sweden," he said. "All of the established parties who won
have shifted feet on their stance towards the file sharing and copyright
regime."

Hear the interview at OUT-LAW Radio (http://www.out-law.com/page-7212)

Copyright © 2006, OUT-LAW.com (http://www.out-law.com/)

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