PIRATE
BOOTY
a physical store and move it to another
part of town than it is, in the Internet
world, to move your server from the
Netherlands to a server in Russia,” says
Mike Robinson, who oversees anti-piracy
efforts for the Motion Picture Association of America. “There will always be
criminals. Whether you’re talking about
online piracy, whether you’re talking
about physical piracy, whether you’re
talking about assault, bank robberies or
something else, there’s always a certain
segment that will engage in that.”
HUFFINGTON
07.15.12
during which he and other techies would
gather and dupe one another’s software.
For all of his passion for technology,
he said that he had never been particularly political until the summer of 2005,
when the Swedish government began
siding with the film and music industry in the copyright standoff with TPB
by actively considering le gislation that
would more aggressive safeguard film
and music copyrights.
Falkvinge says that Stockholm’s cafes
were buzzing about the law that entire
summer. Swedes, he says, were concerned that so much of the culture was
Rickard Falkvinge is a round-faced,
being locked up by corporate monopolies,
40-year-old Swede with blue eyes and
and worried that enforcing copyright
pin-straight, rust-colored hair. He combs
effectively would require a serious invait straight back from his forehead, but a
sion of their privacy online.
few strands always seem to remain askew.
“Everybody took part in these discusHe is a talker, and when he lapses into sisions — and basically said that the polilence his fleshy lips and wide mouth, unticians were stupid,” Falkvinge recalls.
accustomed to the break, appear poised
“Everybody except the politicians. It was
to jump right into another sentence.
like they were completely unaware that
He says he bought his first computer
this discussion even existed.”
when he was eight — in 1980 — and that
So, on New Year’s Day of 2006, the
he started his first software company
technologist became an activist. He
when he was 16. He was sharing files
launched a new political party — the
years before the World Wide Web even
Pirate Party — online with the mission of
existed. He reminiscences fondly about
advocating the benefits of free informaweekends attending “copy parties,” held
tion and reduced copyright protection in
in schools and other public buildings,
the Swedish parliament. Within a day or
so, his site had already gotten a million
page views. News of the party coursed
through the light-speed channels of the
“THE POLITICIANS
WERE STUPID”