[watsisname]

http://af.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idAFTRE55623320090607

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's Pirate Party, striking a chord with voters who want more free content on the Internet, won a seat in the European Parliament, early results showed on Sunday.

The Pirate Party captured 7.1 percent of votes in Sweden in the Europe-wide ballot, enough to give it a single seat. The party wants to deregulate copyright, abolish the patent system and reduce surveillance on the Internet.

"This is fantastic!" Christian Engstrom, the party's top candidate, told Reuters. "This shows that there are a lot of people who think that personal integrity is important and that it matters that we deal with the Internet and the new information society in the right way."

Previously an obscure group of single-issue activists, the party enjoyed a jump in popularity after the conviction in April of four men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing website.

The case cast a spotlight on the issue of internet file-sharing, a technique used to download movies, music and other content. The defendants have called for a retrial.

Despite the similar names, the party and the website are not linked. The party was founded in 2006 and contested a Swedish general election that year, but received less than one percent of the vote.

Engstrom credited the party's appeal to young voters for its success. "We are very strong among those under 30. They are the ones who understand the new world the best. And they have now signalled they don't like how the big parties deal with these issues."

The Pirate Party will take up one of Sweden's 18 seats in the 785-seat parliament. "We will use all of our strength to defend personal integrity and our civil rights," Engstrom said.

Nice to see democracy in action, though I can't say I completely agree with all of their ideals.  Anyway, lulz. 

[Dark RevenantX]

Votes will now be 784 - 1, instead of 785 - 0.

Edit: My postcount is an awesome prime number.

[Fury]

Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.

[Ashrak]

Votes will now be 784 - 1, instead of 785 - 0.

even that is a start.

[Kosh]

Oh noes! Not a party that represents the interests of actual people!

[Mikes]

Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.

i begin to think their choice of calling themselves "Pirate Party" is a bit shortsighted. Copyright, individual rights, survaillance and software patents (especially) are highly relevant questions and a solid foundation for a politcal argument... but by labelling yourself as "Pirates"... you are sort of throwing your legitimation out of the window. Pirates rob and steal - by definition. The Association that most people will make is pretty much a shot in the foot for the party.

[Nuclear1]

YARR!

[blowfish]

YARR!

[Androgeos Exeunt]

* Androgeos Exeunt reads the first post.

* Androgeos Exeunt takes it as a cue to drop his jaw.

* Androgeos Exeunt drops his jaw.

YARR!

YARR YARR YARR [size=8]YARR!!![/size]

[Inquisitor]

Isn't this the same set of elections that voted in a bunch of anti-immigration parties?

[Mobius]

Lightweights. The Italian Lega Nord (League <of/for the> North) just took over 9 seats. That party's degree of racism is one of the most impressive, ever. They also claim to help citizens, but they do that in a ridiculous way (no immigration = better world approach and stuff like that).

[Snail]

BNP FTW!

[iamzack]

Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.

i begin to think their choice of calling themselves "Pirate Party" is a bit shortsighted. Copyright, individual rights, survaillance and software patents (especially) are highly relevant questions and a solid foundation for a politcal argument... but by labelling yourself as "Pirates"... you are sort of throwing your legitimation out of the window. Pirates rob and steal - by definition. The Association that most people will make is pretty much a shot in the foot for the party.

Are you kidding me? When people think pirates, they don't think blackbeard anymore. They think Jack Sparrow. Well, they do here, anyway. Pirates are even more romantic than rockstars these days.

[colecampbell666]

This is a great step in the right direction. I think that this world is going to take a large turn for the better once my generation starts voting.

[Nuclear1]

All for starting a rivaling Ninja Party say Aye.

[Rick James]

賛成.

[redsniper]

my generation ... voting.

[Killer Whale]

 

[Mikes]

Illegal is illegal but I have to say that I do support their views on copyright, patent, surveillance and rights of individuals. I would have voted finnish pirate party for those same reasons but unfortunately they did not manage to register themselves as official party in time for the EU parliament voting.

i begin to think their choice of calling themselves "Pirate Party" is a bit shortsighted. Copyright, individual rights, survaillance and software patents (especially) are highly relevant questions and a solid foundation for a politcal argument... but by labelling yourself as "Pirates"... you are sort of throwing your legitimation out of the window. Pirates rob and steal - by definition. The Association that most people will make is pretty much a shot in the foot for the party.

Are you kidding me? When people think pirates, they don't think blackbeard anymore. They think Jack Sparrow. Well, they do here, anyway. Pirates are even more romantic than rockstars these days.

"They ?" You would be talking about a segment of the overall population here, but hardly the population as a whole.

And let's not forget that we have actual real Somali Pirates attacking international shipping making the news every couple of weeks still LOL.
That's neither Blackbeart nor Jack Sparrow, that's people with masks in speedboats with guns and rocket launchers, yet they are definitely Pirates with the same motives as all Pirates: Robbing and Plundering.
(And even heavily romanticised versions like Jack Sparrow don't really escape that trapping. Otherwise they wouldn't be Pirates, geddit ? It's a Disney movie so of course the fact isn't emphasized, but if you look its actually still there under all the swashbucklery and even if it wasn't in Jack Sparrow you'd still have a whole ship of Pirates plundering a city while women and children scream... in the SAME movie! LOL Pirates robb and steal. Period. If Pirates stop robbing and plundering they stop being Pirates by definition ; ex-Pirates then i guess )

So yeah, ... i could imagine better images to hold up the flag of individual rights

[Androgeos Exeunt]