A political party that wants to reform copyright law,
legalise internet file sharing and protect people's privacy on the
web has won an EU parliamentary seat in Sweden.
The Pirate Party campaigns for internet privacy and state
transparency and will join the EU government after gaining 7% of
the vote in Sweden, according to the
TorrentFreak website.
The party wants to abolish patent rights, boost people's ability
to copy files at home, and lessen regulations and restrictions on
the web.
Membership of the party more than tripled after the
Pirate Bay verdict, which saw the founders of the peer-to-peer
file sharing website being convicted of copyright infringement. The
party is not related to the company, however.
The Pirate Party is now the third largest party in Sweden, with
around 49,000 members.
The organisation was launched in 2006, and there are versions of
the party in the UK, Spain, Germany and the USA.