Sweden Grants Religious Recognition To File-Sharing Church - Polidicks

[quote]The Swedish government has formally recognised a “church” whose main belief is the right to file-share, in a move that is unlikely to be well-received by the Hollywood studios. The recognition of the Church of Kopimism as a religion by the state of Sweden was revealed in a statement on the Church’s Website, after more than a year of trying to gain formal recognition. Religious recognition “Just before Christmas, the Swedish government agency Kammarkollegiet registered the Church of Kopimism as a religious organisation. This means that Sweden is the first country to recognise Kopimism as a religion,” said the church’s statement. It said that board chairman for the organisation Gustav Nipe had to apply three times. “I think it might have something to do with the government organisations abiding by a very copyright-friendly attitude, with a twisted view on copying,” Nipe was quoted as saying. According to the statement, the Church of Kopimism regards information as holy, and copying as a sacrament. It also holds CTRL+C and CTRL+V (the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste) as sacred symbols. While the church does not directly promote illegal file sharing, it does believe in the open distribution of knowledge and holds religious services that it calls ‘ kopyactings’. “Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organisation and its members,” the church said. The church also said the Swedish government recognition was a large step. It hoped that it was one step “towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution, said Isak Gerson, the 19-year philosophy student and self-confessed spiritual leader of the Church of Kopimism. No formal memberhip The Church of Kopimism is a religious organisation that began life in 2010. According to the church’s statement, it is made of a community that “requires no formal membership.” “You just have to feel a calling to worship what is the holiest of the holiest, information and copy,” the statement said. “To do this, we organise kopyactings – religious services – where the kopimists share information with each other through copying and remix,” it added. However the move has predictably drawn a less-than-enthusiastic response from campaigners seeking to uphold copyright protection. “It is quite divorced from reality and is reflective of Swedish social norms rather than the Swedish legislative system,” music analyst Mark Mulligan was quoted as saying on the BBC. “It doesn’t mean that illegal file-sharing will become legal, any more than if ‘Jedi’ was recognised as a religion everyone would be walking around with light sabres,” he reportedly said. “In some ways these guys are looking outdated. File-sharing as a means to pirate content is becoming yesterday’s technology.” Political Moves Sweden is well known for its file-sharing activists. During the European parliament elections in June, 2009, the Swedish Pirate Party (PiratPartiet) gained two Euro MP seats. But In September, 2010, the party was unsuccessful in its attempts to become a political force within Sweden after it failed to secure a parliamentary seat in the country’s general election. PiratPartiet also said it planned to launch the world’s first Pirate ISP - a broadband service that would allow users to share BitTorrent files anonymously online. Besides these Scandinavian developments, there seems to be a zero-tolerance towards piracy in many countries. In the United States for example the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is proving to be controversial, with a number of big name firms refusing to support the legislation in its current form. In the UK, there is the Digital Ecomomy Act, which has also proved to be hugely controversial.[/quote] [url=http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/sweden-grants-religious-recognition-to-file-sharing-church-52689]Source[/url] It's time to convert.

First a piracy party, now a religion based around file sharing. What's next?

Anti-copyright people always sound so obnoxious to me. This is hardly an exception.

[quote]Church of Kopimism[/quote] whats up bitches

My kind of religion.

[QUOTE=Kopimi;35586097]whats up bitches[/QUOTE] M'lord.

Thou shall covet thy neighbors music, & then acquire thy music from the Bay of Pirates

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;35586093]Anti-copyright people always sound so obnoxious to me. This is hardly an exception.[/QUOTE] Pro-copyright people don't understand that the market is evolving to a point where they will be dinosaurs if they don't get their shit together. Crowdsource and open source are legitimate options now. On the other side of things, you see companies as large and successful as Microsoft letting people use their .NET framework for free to encourage adoption of it, and in the end they are going to make more money off of it than they ever could if they had clung to the old ideas of most copyright holders. This has slowly been expanding out from the tech industry into everyday life, with the return of the co-op and other marketplace developments. Copyright, at least in its current manifestation, is outdated and needs to be changed.

The way the music industry is handling piracy and copyright is terrible, but pirating is also terrible.

[img]http://puu.sh/pPd0[/img] This was already posted when it was actually news.

[QUOTE=FlakAttack;35586348]Pro-copyright people don't understand that the market is evolving to a point where they will be dinosaurs if they don't get their shit together. Crowdsource and open source are legitimate options now. On the other side of things, you see companies as large and successful as Microsoft letting people use their .NET framework for free to encourage adoption of it, and in the end they are going to make more money off of it than they ever could if they had clung to the old ideas of most copyright holders. This has slowly been expanding out from the tech industry into everyday life, with the return of the co-op and other marketplace developments. Copyright, at least in its current manifestation, is outdated and needs to be changed.[/QUOTE] You can tell me my means of gaining money is outdated but that gives you no right to pirate my music.

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;35587190]You can tell me my means of gaining money is outdated but that gives you no right to pirate my music.[/QUOTE] He never said it did.

As with a few things in society, I think copyright in its current form is a problem, but I don't think a viable solution has yet been proposed and I don't have one myself

[QUOTE=chunkymonkey;35587270]He never said it did.[/QUOTE] All right fine, but "Your copyright ideas are outdated" is constantly used to defend piracy.

so is MC Double Def DP like their anti-christ or something [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up863eQKGUI[/media]

[QUOTE=salty peanut v2;35587647]so is MC Double Def DP like their anti-christ or something [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up863eQKGUI[/media][/QUOTE] No, he's their Satan. Their anti-christ is [I]this[/I] sad individual. [video=youtube;hUCyvw4w_yk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUCyvw4w_yk&feature=relmfu[/video] Frightening, I know.

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;35587411]All right fine, but "Your copyright ideas are outdated" is constantly used to defend piracy.[/QUOTE] Its not used to defend or justify piracy (Or at least it shouldn't be), but it is a solution to a problem that cannot be fixed any other way. Its about time that they realised they just cant fight it, no matter what they do people will always find ways around it and people will always file share. At the same time it has been proven time and time again that if you support file sharing and no DRM your sales will end up higher than they were before.

[QUOTE=Kopimi;35586097]whats up bitches[/QUOTE] And the lord did say "whats up bitches" and the question was not answered, because the lord, in his almighty power, did smite anyone who dared try to answer.

What does it take to start a chapter I wonder?

So how long before the MAFIAA starts sneaking moles into their "services" to identify and sue people?

I heard about this a few months ago and it's still as hilarious as then. I don't think it'll hold out for long, but if I recall joining this grants you a little bit of immunity to piracy laws and if they try to sue or arrest you, it can be considered a hate crime because all you're doing is "practice your religion". P2P - Prayer-to-prayer. :v:

I believe in the Church of Kopimism, and the church of england. Both are the same god and i get the best of both worlds.

It's P2P preaching! [editline]16th April 2012[/editline] I'm late, crap

I shall serve our Lord Floppy

[QUOTE=DrLuke;35590072]I shall serve our Lord Floppy[/QUOTE] It's Kopimi, infidel!

[QUOTE=DrLuke;35590072]I shall serve our Lord Floppy[/QUOTE] piece of shit just wait until i figure out the god commands i'm going to smite you so bad

[QUOTE=Kopimi;35590443]piece of shit just wait until i figure out the god commands i'm going to smite you so bad[/QUOTE] Teach me, o' magnificent one!

Hey Kopimi, can I have admin pls?

Next up, the church of Pedophilia! ... oh wait, that already exists.

[QUOTE=Flyboi;35590577]Next up, the church of Pedophilia! ... oh wait, that already exists.[/QUOTE] Catholicism?