Swedish MPs call for legalized file-sharing

Seven Swedish Members of Parliament from the Moderate Party have written a stirring call for the legalization of file-sharing:

Decriminalizing all non-commercial file sharing and forcing the market to adapt is not just the best solution. It’s the only solution, unless we want an ever more extensive control of what citizens do on the Internet. Politicians who play for the antipiracy team should be aware that they have allied themselves with a special interest that is never satisfied and that will always demand that we take additional steps toward the ultimate control state. Today they want to transform the Internet Service Providers into an online police force, and the Antipiracy Bureau wants the authority for themselves to extract the identities of file sharers. Then they can drag the 15-year-old girl who downloaded a Britney Spears song to civil court and sue her.

Link (Thanks, Bruce!)

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I’m pleasantly surprised that these MP:s belong to the largest of the right wing coalition parties that are in power.

Since coming to power some 15 months ago, the government has consistently taken from the poor(er) and given to the rich(er).

Of course, these MP:s do not represent the party line on this issue, but it gives some hope of stopping the proposed new file sharing laws.

In the opposition (Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party) this kind of sentiment is probably more common, especially among leftists and greens.