Sweden: Piracy Is Not A Religion

[Space Jawa]

I wish we would stop calling file-sharers pirates. As a native of Charleston, SC, I say there is only one true kind of pirate. And it happens to be the kind that held my city for ransom.

Exactly my thoughts. Real pirates actually go out and risk life and limb to steal physical cargo. These "digital pirates" are nothing more than thugs sitting at a computer screen.

I suggest that instead, we start calling them either "Digital Bootleggers" or "TechnoCommies".

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

So, it's like a church of pickpockets. Who wonder why they are jailed for, well, picking pockets.

Bah, pathetic.

 

[Alcamonic]

Of course it's here in Sweden...
Our law system is mostly crap. Good example being that self-defense is close to illiegal. And you might get punished if you fight back and the attacker gets hurt (yes... seriously).

I hope they won't get the right, regardless of religion freedom.
Problems are: if you ban one, you might need to ban others.
If you allow it, the next day, someone will make a religion about raping women, and claiming it's in their "holy book".

I really hope this is a wakeup call for the swedish legal system, and that they will fix it and make it much clearer for us laymen.

 

[JaymesFogarty]

Well.... Piracy is Illegal and I assume the files they where copying were copyright protected. and a religion that is about something illegal should not be allowed. The same reason why practicing old norse rituals are illegal (atleast the ones with human sacrifice)

But should it be illegal?

See, theres the issue.

What we have is essientaly the power to make somthing out of nothing. It takes 0 raw materials to make a digital book, movie, game, etc.

You have a limitless supply of these products. Why not share them? What if we could do this with food or water? would you still call it theft then?

At the same time, I undertsand that people put their time and money into these things, and they lose their sales like this.

This is one of the few issues where I am truly divided in my opinion.

That entirely depends on what the creater thinks. I think that if an author has, through his/her love or writing, written a novel, and decided to share it online, there is nothing wrong with that. Likewise with movies and songs. If they are released with the intention of being given for free to the public, there is nothing but a kind sentiment from the industry to its consumers. However, intellectual property is not debatable. Spending years writing a book, or producing a film, only to have others take copies from you without permission is inexcusable in my opinion. If you put money/time into something that you want to see a return from, I don't think it would be justifiable taking it, when they are asking for something. Just like how a farmer slaves away in a field, authors can spend years dragging pens across paper. And being metaphorically spat on the face by the public is not a debatable evil, (at least, not how I envisage it.) Of course, in the perfect world media like films, books & tv would all be free for the public to download and share. But you should always respect the intellectual property's owner's wishes as well!

 

[Loonerinoes]

Wow...I mean...just...

*bursts out in uncontrollable laughter*

This is truly an awesome piece. I mean...the hidden agenda behind Piracy becoming a religion...the absurdity of Sweden actually having to go through their bureocracy, simply because a claim for religion has been made...

This is grade-A trolling. And if it'd succeed...I am pretty damn sure it'd actually even achieve something. And I'm not sure if that 'something' would be the most ludicrously anarchistic thing ever...or just something that would laugh in the face of every law about intellectual property that has ever existed.

For good or for ill...though if it'd be put within the confines of religion...I'm betting it'd be just ill.

 

[Extravagance]

Well.... Piracy is Illegal and I assume the files they where copying were copyright protected. and a religion that is about something illegal should not be allowed. The same reason why practicing old norse rituals are illegal (atleast the ones with human sacrifice)

Because flame war will happen anyway:

So a religion based around agressive expansion, the consumption of a sacrificed man's flesh and blood, that states everything else is immoral and should be killed is fine? But these guys (pretty harmless-sounding) are hellah bad.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

If you dissaprove of the distribution of information you dissaprove of scientific progress and the evolution of the human race, both past and future!

 

[CarlMin]

As I Swede myself, I can only say that I'm so freaking sick of all these punks whining about piracy and freedom of speech as if it was the biggest tragedy in the western world.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

I took one look at the article header and I'm instantly reminded of the mutual biggotry between Norway and Sweden.

This is not going to help both on that front and pirates.

 

[Adventurer2626]

If a giggle singularity can exist, I just created one. OMG!!!! That's funny.

 

[JordanMillward_1]

If you disapprove of the distribution of information you disapprove of scientific progress and the evolution of the human race, both past and future!

This.

I honestly don't see a problem with a religion based around freedom of information and communication. It makes more sense than most religions that are around currently.

I hope they keep up the fight, and pull it off.

 

[jpoon]

Sweet, how do I join? Might as well give my 10% to a religion that isn't total bullshit.

 

[Elementlmage]

Still, Gerson's flock remains undaunted and will continue its crusade to spread the illicit teachings of their belief system.

Excuse me, but thou art journalist, not pundit, are ye not? If so, please keep thine editorial statements to a minimum.

 

[icame]

Can anyone tell me the location of their church when i get back? I need to grab some thermite and magnesium wire.. Maybe some dynamite for extra fun.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I wish we would stop calling file-sharers pirates. As a native of Charleston, SC, I say there is only one true kind of pirate. And it happens to be the kind that held my city for ransom.

Exactly my thoughts. Real pirates actually go out and risk life and limb to steal physical cargo. These "digital pirates" are nothing more than thugs sitting at a computer screen.

I suggest that instead, we start calling them either "Digital Bootleggers" or "TechnoCommies".

Thugs?...

Copyright laws are rather draconian, designed to favour business over consumer...not for moral reasons, for monetary reasons. Given how the entertainment industry is pushing for yet more control over a product once it's been legally obtained, now seems like an appropriate time for people to voice their opinions on the issue.

Because right now it's money=power, or money=righteous, and that's pretty fucked.

This website is annoyingly willing to accept the letter of the law or the thoughts of industry insiders as having some kind of moral authority. Given how often we have ridiculous self-appreciating threads where we claim to be the intelligencia of the internet, this is a laughably closed-minded community.

As a species, we absolutely bare the mark of our lowly origins. We've crafted a weird set of values for ourselves, where we celebrate murderers as heroes, largely ignore the crimes of big-business, manage to live blissfully ignorant of the suffering of much of the worlds population(I know I sleep like a feckin' baby)and label someone with a bit of copied data as a criminal/deviant/immoral individual.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that it's because we've been told to feel that way, not because we've all mulled it over...free of influence, and come to that conclusion for ourselves. To me it feels like the worst kind of subservience to allow business to dictate moral truth.

Please form an orderly line to tell me I'm wrong, my face can take enough finger-wagging for everyone to have gotten their fill of it. I admit to no acts of copyright infringement, but I refuse to judge or condemn anyone who does so without feeling remorse.

 

[DEAD34345]

Most religions from my experience are based upon the idea of mutual understand and respect, "loving your neighbour as you love yourself" sort of thing. Regardless of how misconstrued those messages become by people who seek to serve themselves, that's the basic message of many if not all major religions, if you read the text.

The message of this religion is "stealing is justifiable".
Furthermore I suspect that the whole religious aspect is nothing more than a cover for criminal activity and it's no different than someone trying to create a pedophile religion, or a murder religion, or graffiti religion, or whatever.

That is, it's a hollow legal-loophole sham. And nothing more.

A hollow sham it is, but I still don't see what harm it's doing to actual religions. Besides which religions can have whatever messages they want, for example the bible itself states that selling your daughter as a slave is OK as long as it isn't to foreigners (Exodus 21:7-11). Now I'm not saying Christians agree with that, but if messages like that in the Bible are deemed acceptable then why not "Stealing is justifiable"?

Another point that annoys me is that these special exemptions for religions exist in the first place. How is it any better for Christians or Muslims or Buddhists to be able to completely side-step the law? They have no more right to be exempt from aspects of the law than these software pirates do, so why should they be treated differently? If anything the pirates might at least raise some awareness for these legal issues, and cause them to be fixed.