Ahoy
Pirates have won a seat in the European Parliament.
Sweden’s Pirate Party has won a seat in the European Parliament.
The group — which campaigned on reformation of copyright and patent law — secured 7.1% of the Swedish vote.
“The Pirate Party wants to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system, and ensure that citizens’ rights to privacy are respected. With this agenda, and only this, we are making a bid for representation in the European and Swedish parliaments.”
Their platform is simply to make all non-commercial copying legal, do away with patents, restrict copyrights to five years, and place severe limits on government online surveillance. They are currently negotiating with various party blocs to decide where to align themselves. If the European Parliament passes a reorganization measure, which the Pirate Party opposes incidentally, they will pick up a second seat.
Thank you, Sweden.