European elections: Pirate Party sails on the wind of the copyright debate

In Sweden the biggest surprise in the European elections is that the Pirate Party was able to gain a foothold in the European Parliament. Its calls for free online copying and a fundamental reform in copyright law ensured it a strong performance, above all among young voters. The Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter comments: "The advance of the Pirate Party comes in the middle of the worst economic crisis in 70 years. … Its success derives from issues other than jobs and the economy. The Pirates are sailing on the wind of the fierce debate over supervisory laws and personal integrity, as well as the ruling on the file-sharing website Pirate Bay. The established parties have reacted far too late to people's concerns about the encroachment of the state on personal integrity. They are also at a loss to explain how modern copyright laws could be made compatible with the copying of data files on the Internet. "

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