20 candidates make a go for
it
The Swedish Pirate Party is going to make a serious bid in the next
European Parliament with more than 20 candidates running.
Activist Christian
Engström said that if politicians want to prevent ordinary citizens from sharing
files, they will constantly have to expand their ability to monitor. He
wants to reform the copyright legislation to ensure that citizens' right to
privacy is respected."
The Pirate Party believes people should be able to
freely copy books or music for private use. It also wants the abolition of the
patent system and guaranteed online privacy rights. It might have a job
though. Despite the fact that Sweden's youth might believe in the aims of the
party. No one votes for them. In the Swedish national election in 2006 the
outfit only got 0.63 percent of the votes.
Engström argues that since then
there is a growing outrage in Sweden over draconian new anti-privacy
legislation, and the recent trial of The Pirate Bay in Stockholm earned
saturation-level media coverage.
Membership of the Pirate Party is now
larger than the Left Party and the Green Party. The party's youth section,
"Young Pirates," is currently the second biggest political youth group in
Sweden.
