

Swedish pirate party to run the pirate bay from inside the Swedish parliament - jarrodvanda
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-to-run-tpb-from-parliament-010702/

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mzl
Well, this will only happen if they actually get into parliament. Announcing
the plans might get them more votes, making it self-fulfilling though.

It is fun legal hacking in any case.

~~~
Estragon
For every vote it wins them, the proposed abuse of privilege will lose them
three votes.

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jbooth
Anybody who doesn't think the idea of running the pirate bay out of parliament
is awesome, hilarious and/or a gesture they want to make probably isn't voting
for them anyways.

They're not going for mainstream votes, they're trying to amp up a small base
-- extreme works.

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cturner
I've wondered about exactly this principle before. If a MP were to read out
large sections of a novel in parliament, and then it were to be published
through the mechanism of hansard, would that invoke copyright infringement
laws? I expect it would, and that parliamentary privilege wouldn't be a
defence.

~~~
cabalamat
AIUI, you're wrong. MPs can say _anything_ on the floor of the House. This is
necessary to prevent them from being hassled by libel etc suits.

~~~
cturner
I know that it works against libel, but does it work against copyright? That's
my point.

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sfk
When reading these articles, I continue to be amazed at how many euphemisms
there are for "I want stuff for free".

~~~
rbanffy
... just like it never ceases to amaze me how copyright can be extended
seemingly forever in order to protect entrenched businesses.

How long until Mickey Mouse becomes public domain?

~~~
coderdude
I don't seem to feel the same way that most people do on this issue. Why is it
so bad that the corporation that owns the rights to Mickey Mouse, and still
uses "him" to make money, retains the rights to that character? Why should it
be our right to make money off it as well?

~~~
rbanffy
Because copyrights exist to creste an incentive for the production of cultural
goods. If Disney can milk their cows forever, there will be little incentive
to produce new cows.

This monopoly on such cultural goods prevents the creation of derivedworks and
reduce the value to the population of these goods.

They can have their copyright, but for a reasonable time.

~~~
tzs
Don't you have that backwards? If I wish to make cartoons and use an
anthropomorphic mouse, I have more incentive to create a new character so that
I can avoid having to license Mickey. If Mickey were public domain, I'd have
less incentive to create a new character, as I could just use Mickey.

In fact, I might have incentive to specifically avoid creating a new
character, because Mickey has recognition.

~~~
rbanffy
What if Disney finds the character resembles too much a copyrighted character?

If we plan on extending copyright forever, we will end up with a pretty
crowded characterspace in a couple decades. Are you sure you'll be able to
come up with something that's completely original a couple decades from now?
Is it sane?

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duairc
I love these people.

~~~
varjag
They are also neo-nazi kind of people. Still love them?

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mmelin
What are you talking about?

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varjag
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/26/pirate_bay_neo_nazi/>

It's sorta well-known here in Scandinavia, that aside from being on the
frontier of fight against RIAA, they are also neo-Nazi closet cases.

Downvoters, enjoy your cognitive dissonance ;)

~~~
mmelin
As is apparent from my profile, I live in Scandinavia as well. You are
mistaken at best and knowingly spreading FUD (lying) at worst when you say
that.

What is well known is that Carl Lundström has been involved in some groups
with very unpleasant political views (that I in no way share). Carl Lundström
owns the ISP that hosted TPB in its first years. He may or may not still have
a share in TPB, but it is fairly established that his role in the project
never was anything other than a passive financier.

It is a _very_ large leap, and close to libel if you ask me, to go from that
to calling everyone involved in TPB and PP "neo-Nazi closet cases".

I assume that you think that half of the Swedish music industry are neo-Nazis
as well, since they've worked at one time or another with
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Karlsson> ?

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eru
And I guess those musicians also own IKEA furniture [1]. Guilty by
association.

[1] IKEA's founder was involved with a pro-nazi movement once. He apologized
later.

(Edit: Corrected history. Thanks!)

~~~
mmelin
Actually, Ingvar Kamprad wasn't involved with neo-Nazis, but the original
Nazis. Good point nonetheless :-)

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingvar_Kamprad#Nazi_involvement>

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Semiapies
It's refreshingly honest for a country to just openly _admit_ they treat
politicians as above the law, as opposed to pretending otherwise.

~~~
corprew
US Constitution, Article I, Section 6, Clause 1.

[Members of Congress] shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach
of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session
of their Respective Houses, and in going to and from the same, and for any
Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other
Place.

Parliamentary immunity is not an concept isolated to Sweden.

~~~
qwzybug
That's just while Congress is physically in session (another use for the
filibuster...?). Search "Larry Craig" or "Luis Gutierrez" for some recent
arrests of American representatives.

~~~
corprew
Right, which is why the Pirate party is doing it as part of their official
political activities.

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heresy
Honestly I can't see this going very far.

This will boil down to a debate on whether parliamentary privilege extends to
being able to use resources of the state to advance goals which are not
necessarily policy of the state or likely to become so, given where politician
funding comes from.

Does hosting a server constitute "speech", in the sense that the writers of
laws protecting MPs meant it?

Makes for a great headline though.

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Vivtek
I can honestly say I didn't see this coming.

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ww520
Sweet. Corrupt the system from within.

