I usually don’t go into politics in this blog, but now I feel I have to.
Today we have the EU elections. Not that they mean as much as national elections, but they do mean something. I’m voting for the Pirate Party and I feel an urge to explain why.
It’s not because I support illegal downloading of copyrighted material, or hate artists or anything like that. I don’t do illegal downloading of copyrighted material for a number of reasons, one of which is that it’s probably illegal (in Sweden, it’s not all that clear), but mainly because I’m too lazy. As long as getting the content I want is convenient, and I can live without content that isn’t convenient to get, I see no reason to do the illegal downloading thing.
The thing that really gets me is that just to protect the copyright owner’s interests, we are on the road to introducing a police state mentality that would have made Joe Stalin proud. It’s simply not worth it. If I have to live either without freedom from privacy intrusions or without Eminem, I’d choose freedom any day (I take Eminem as an example simply because I really like his stuff). I can very well see myself without any of the music, movies, or books that are currently brought out, if that is what it takes. For some reason, I figure this is what the Pirate Party says as well. Or at least, they come the closest of all the parties to saying it this way, so they get my vote.
In short: if you can’t produce and publish entertainment without having to destroy our free society in the process, you can stuff that entertainment where the sun don’t shine, as far as I’m concerned.