The Politics of Piracy Emerge in Sweden

Teens of the world, unite!
Well, I always gain new insights by reading the columns of my favorite IT pro, John C. Dvorak. This dude is “waaaay” ahead of the curve on how things aught to be in the world of Information Technology. He’s also pretty sharp in his logical analysis on who’s fu#king up in said industry. Let’s just say his Inside Track column is partly responsible for me keeping my edge on the competition. Quite frankly, I share his views on all the stupid anti-piracy legislation that’s sweeping the West due to greedy Hollywood media moguls. In this column, Dvorak believes that the RIAA and their ilk may have met their match if Sweden’s teenagers have anything to do with it – at the ballot box. He sets the stage with this poignant (neat, skillful, and to the point) observation:

Well, it looks like the boneheads in Hollywood and the RIAA, along with onerous new copyright laws such as the DMCA and other restrictions, are triggering change. I’d be cautious. Today’s youth internationally are not like anything we’ve seen before. Their view of the world is skewed by the media and new realities. When they see all these restrictions, they see them done on behalf of fat guys who are flying around in private jets with a cabin full of high-class hookers while lighting cigars with hundred-dollar bills. They see rappers in limos wearing diamonds and having their teeth removed and replaced with gold for no apparent reason other than to spend the suckers’ money. They see mega-yachts and homes that are the size of a small college all bought and sold on the backs of the kids buying music. Indeed, they are seeing a different world than most of us did when we were growing up. It’s nuts. It looks unfair or, worse, exploitative.

Then they see old ladies arrested for copyright violations because a grandkid downloaded a song. Dead people are indicted in hysterical sweeps. Kids are threatened with ruination for song-swapping.

They’re not going to put up with it for long, I can assure you. While I think any outrage will fall short of storming the compounds of the rich and burning their homes, once the next-generation youth finally figure out that they can take over at the ballot box, all hell will break loose.

By the way, if you want to see Dvorak’s views on what a real democracy is all about, take a peek at this quote:

In a parliamentary system, a group like the Pirate Party, which will quickly surpass Sweden’s Green Party, doesn’t have to win a majority of seats to have an effect. In multiparty systems (unlike in the U.S.), you have to form coalitions to rule, and all sorts of deals are made for anything to get done. And I suspect that a lot of older politicos are tired of being pushed around by U.S. intellectual-property monopolists and would love to side with the Pirate Party on the excuse that they “had to.”

Links to the current situation are on my blog here. To American ears, this all seems and sounds silly. But the moniker for the Pirate Party in Swedish, Piratpartiet, actually has a nice ring to it.

God damn it, but I love the way this guy THINKS! Honestly, if anyone thinks the US has a real democracy, guess again. Two parties (Republicans & Democrats) does not make a democracy. Nough said. Oh, go Sweden go!

Hopefully the youths in Africa will follow suit and take back their continent since most of these greedy, CORRUPT politicians over here couldn’t give a damn about them…unless they’re family, or when election time rolls around. Read on.