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Swedish Pirate Demo
Arioch of Chaos writes "In Sweden, May 1 is still a day when many people get out on the streets to take part in the traditional demonstrations. Today, the Swedish site Piratbyrån organised demonstrations in several Swedish towns, demanding more bandwith and the abolition of intellectual property laws. This picture is just great. More pictures here." Congratulations to whoever made the AYBABTU sign.
It's unfortunate that piratbyrån get's this kind of publicity, but I'll try to fill you in.
Piratbyrån (roughly translated to "The bureau of piracy") was formed as a childish response to the lawyerfilled "Antipiratbyrån" (I think you can take a guess at the translation).
The "members" are mostly 14 year old kids, who just discovered that "heeey! i can use kazaa to download pr0n! wow!", and shortly after discovered "what do you mean it's illegal? I'll pirate anyway, motherbitches!" and is as of thus filled with these crying fools. Noone with half a brain takes them seriously, and I hope none of you do either.
I'm not, repeat not, som kind of guardian of antipiratbyrån, but piratbyrån uses just the kind of methods that makes antipiratbyrån look like the good guys. Unfortunate indeed.
In Estonia internet (knowledge) access is by law a human right.
... because in 1889, The Second International organized in Paris and set May 1 as a day of international labor solidarity, to support US trade unionists. European socialists like Engels decided it was important to publicise the plight of poor working conditions in the USA.
That would mean the daughter of Slash.
- "Every demand is a prison, and wisdom is only free when it asks nothing." Sir Betrand Russell
Well I'm a Dane (and therefore I'm obligated to hate the Swedes :)) and I'd say that in Sweeden the are much better off than us Danes. Bandwidth in Denmark costs about 400DKK ~ $60 a month for a 2048/256 ADSL line, where in Sweden the get 10/10 Mbit line capacity for 1/4 of the Danish 2 Mbit ADSL. 100 Mbit bandwidth is also quite common over there for end-users
BTW, if anybody has tried Direct Connect P2P program they'll quickly find out that the 7151.97 TB online are almost hosted alone by Swedes...
Hi their, just in case things go sidewise as it were I have put up a mirror.. org/ 0 .jpg is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www.piratbyran. org/1majbilder/umea/DSCF0020.jpg . org/1majbilder/ 2 3.JPG is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www.piratbyran. org/1majbilder/sthlm/DSCF0023.JPG x .html is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www4.tomshardwa re.com/column/20040430/index.html s &file=article&sid=239 is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www.dailywirele ss.com/modules.php%3fname=News&%3bfile=article& amp%3bsid=239 l ess.net/ e t/ s /warfly.avi is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www.tomshardwar e.com/column/20040430/images/warfly.avi
The mirror of http://www.piratbyran.org/ is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www.piratbyran
The mirror of http://www.piratbyran.org/1majbilder/umea/DSCF002
The mirror of http://www.piratbyran.org/1majbilder/ is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www.piratbyran
The mirror of http://www.piratbyran.org/1majbilder/sthlm/DSCF00
The mirror of http://www4.tomshardware.com/column/20040430/inde
The mirror of http://www.dailywireless.com/modules.php?name=New
The mirror of http://www.kismetwireless.net/ is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www.kismetwire
The mirror of http://www.stumbler.net/ is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_154/www.stumbler.n
The mirror of http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20040430/image
Dagens Nyheter, morning paper
Svenska Dagbladet, morning paper
Aftonbladet, tabloid
Computter Sweden (paying subscribers only)
Yelah
Gnuheter, /. clone
Actually, everyone that doesn't speak Swedish should know that "Piratbyrån" is a phun of "Antipiratbyrån" and I guess everyone knows the word anti.
(piratbyrån = piracy agency)
I agree that with higher tax pressure you expect more service from the government (and that 65% figure, while true, is a bit extreme and only applies to the very highest income brackets.. most people pay 30-35% income tax in sweden).
BUT.
We do not have a specific "broadband tax" in sweden, which means that the first things you should make sure is properly funded by the government should be important things like schools and healthcare (which arent properly funded). Not silly things like fiberlinks to every house. And thankyou for clearing up who the hell these people where when I saw them yesterday. I couldnt hear what the hell the nerd was mumbling into his microphone (I live in the town on the picture that is "just great"... yay Umeå!).
"Piratbyrån (the pirate bureau) demonstrated on three locations
Submitted: 2004, May the 2nd, 00:49
In three cities supporters of the Pirate Bureau demonstrated under slogans like "The welfare society starts at 100 Mbit" and "abolish copyright". In Stockholm almost 200 persons demonstrated, in Umeå about a hundred and in Malmö a bold handful. The participants chanted newmade slogans like "Use the force - Open Source" and "We want six, we want six, we want 600 Mbit" (pun lost in translation), and carried homemade banners with piracy and file sharing themes. In Stockholm the first Copyswap ever was pulled off, where people exchanged their privately burned discs with film or music with their new friends. In Umeå a price was awarded to the best dressed pirate; a real harddrive.
Both in Stockholm and Umeå there was particular focus on the newly finished campaign "Stoppa Fluktarna" (stop what? Will some Swedes help me out?), aiming to put pressure on the ISPs, so that they will not accept the media industry's mafia methods; spying on Internet users and subsequently reporting them to their ISPs.
In Umeå the demonstration marched by three large ISPs having offices in Umeå, and in Stockholm the final destination was Datainspektionen where 23000 signatures was passed over - burned on CDROM. Datainspektionen couldn't be bothered, so the list was put in their mailbox.
The Pirate Bureau wishes to thank everybody that participated in the demonstrations today. We showed that we exist for real, and that we have a force to be reckoned with. Until the next happening - keep on pirating!
Actually, sex is six in swedish, so it's more of a play on words than a geek call to mate :P
"Stoppa fluktarna" means "stop the peekers", it is a slang word generally reffering to peeking at wonem. It is a silly word, but the pirate bureau uses it to reffer to ISPs tracking your activities on the internet.