Most important now in my opinion is to start work on all the preparations for our national election next year. We left Falkvinge back home in Sweden to make sure we have a strong presence here for that election. As part of these preparations we should make sure that all we do in the EuroParl are fully transparent to our voters. If we can show results in our issues down in Brussels much will be gained in the upcoming national election.

Today was a weird day. It started in a deep sense of hopelessness with the guilty verdict. But as the day wore on it’s turning into more of a righteous anger.  OMG Internets!(sv) sent me to a awesome key note by the man who gave us The Machine is Us/ing Us. This is what the conflict is all about. Should the greatest communication platform be free to explore and use by anyone or should it be controlled, filtered and censored into a cable-TV network. 

Some of the highlights of the day was an interview with(sv) some Swedish artist where Anders Wedin aka Moneybrother said: 

I don’t know what to say, no way in hell did I expect this. they where sentenced to jail! I was unsure whether there was actually any crime committed at all. I think the fines seem astoundingly high, but I want to side with the artists. Downloading is something you do on ones own authority.

When asked if he was surprised but happy, he replied:

I think amphetamine has been really helpful to me and I would really love to see it handed out to school children. I’d rather you write that then that I’m pleased with the verdict.

Another “sensation” was that judge Thomas Nordlund, who held a press conference after the verdict was handed out, was totally unprepared to answer questions in English… I guess it’s just more proof multiple worlds (co)exist simultaneously. Then again the certified translator they used during the trial was horridly bad at English. So maybe they should let the pirates do all the translating. 

19845 members, getting close now.

Apparently the verdict was leaked from the court before the official time. TorrentFreak has the story. It’s sort of strange but I’m not sure what bearing it might have. 

Twingly Blog Search

EDBs policy says:

Political activity 3.3 EDB does not give support to political parties, neither in the form of direct financial support nor paid working time. Employees participating in political activities will be granted leave from their work in accordance with the law and agreements.

Seeing as his participation in the chat was during his spare time, he has clearly not violated company policy. 

Generally, firing people in Sweden is tricky business. There’s alot of laws that strictly regulates how you can fire people. But since Jonas wasn’t employed by EDB but instead with the consulting firm, they bypass these laws. 

Jonas had been told that his chances at getting a permanent position were very good and that the company were just waiting on a clearer picture of the direction of the economy before offering him a job. But after leaving work this Thursday EDB called him and said that they had no interest in being connected to the subjects the chat concerned. Upon returning to the consulting firm he was told to hand in security pass and keys to them, and that he is not welcome and EDBs offices anymore. Not even to say goodbye to his friends at work.

Terminating a contract in this way for someones political views is dispicable!

Swedish blogs covering the subject:

Nyhetsskribent.se, Leo Erlandsson, Opassande, Insane Meditation, Ung Pirat Mattias Bjärnemalm

-Update: Now also on SvD(sv) – EDB head office denies everything and the Örebro office of the consulting firm is unreachable.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xbRE_H5hoU]

Even more Lessig here.

Now, I doubt anyone would mind using Lessig’s term in Swedish, but a literal translation of RW Culture sounds pretty much as literacy culture in Swedish. And that’s completely incomprehensible. But Lessig describes it mostly as it pertains to cultural expressions.

To me Participant Culture refers not only to the act of remixing, where you build upon, and evolve work done by someone else in strict cultural expressions such as writing, sound or images. It also describes a way of life enjoyed by many netizens. Your friends and the people you know are your swarm, and their swarms connects to your swarm in ways you don’t know about, can’t see and can’t predict. All swarms are ever active, and since they are defined as a network of connections via any and all channels available today, they transcend borders, and physical location.A completely globalized state of being, if you will. The Piracy Bureau member Marcin de Kaminski calls this Cluster Organizational Dynamics(sv).

In these swarms specific individuals form stronger connections with individuals they like. Just like ordinary friends. You chat, share stories about your social life and hang out, at the keyboard or away from the keyboard. To us it’s all real life. Whether you can reach out and physically touch someone isn’t really important.

Now Participant Culture strengthens other connections as well. Most interestingly is connections based on interest and skills. When a swarm such as that evolves to a certain stage it gains a composite conscienceness. A will and direction derived from the similar interests, and a capability based on the collective skill set. This swarm can act as an individual of sorts and perform demanding and complex actions.

The Swedish Pirate Party is organized like this. And in my opinion as is The Pirate Bay and the Bureau of Piracy as well. If one of us desires a task to be completed that that particular individual isn’t capable of, all they have to do is communicate their desire to the swarm and chances are great it will find its way to an individual or group of individuals that have both the interest and skills required.

The older someone is, the less likely they are to intuitively understand this. Their world is defined by the one in charge. If they need something done, they try to think to most likely candidate to help them and then they contact that specific person. I that doesn’t pan out the move to no. 2 on their list.

The people of that world were the ones that refused to believe Linux could be made. A complete OS was so complex that it REQUIRED the control to be placed in the hands of a capable leader. By now we’ve have seen that this is not true, but the knowledge and understanding is far from common place.

And this creates culture clashes, where people belonging to either group are incapable of understanding the motivation of someone from the opposite group. I wouldn’t call that sad, but it sure does make you go wtf at times…

“I have a lot on my mind right now”

Peter Danowsky, who represents IFPI, said to TT that:

“It’s a largely technical issue that changes nothing in terms of our compensation claims and has no bearing whatsoever on the main case against The Pirate Bay. In fact it simplifies the prosecutor’s case by allowing him to focus on the main issue, which is the making available of copyrighted works”

Its only been two days and both sides are equally dug in in their opinion on the state of the trial. With the possible exception of government prosecutor Håkan Roswall. Perhaps all that googeling on DHT cramped his style. I cannot for the life of me understand how he is stills ill prepared after three years worth of investigating.

Christian Engström(sv), first in line to take seat in the EU parliament if the Pirate Party receives enough votes in the upcoming election is a former juryman meaning has first hand knowledge of this stage of the Swedish justice system.  On Rick Falkvinge’s blog he comments:

“It’s possible that the jurymen can’t keep up with all the technical details. This is not necessary as a juryman. But you are keenly aware of the sound of crackling prosecution and can easily tell when the prosecutor hasn’t done his his job”.

Monique Wadsted did not leave Mr Roswall alone on the stage of failure today. Projo(sv) pointed out a news clip with Rick Falkvinge, Gottfrid Swartholm, Peter Sunde and quote maker Monique Wadsted. The reporter asks her:

“It’s the opinion of a lot of people that these laws have not kept up with technological advances”.

Wadsted replies:

“Regardless of the law…”

*Picks up jaw from floor*

Sorry, lets try that again.

“Regardless of the law, it is still not allowed to make money off of others copyright, eh, others copyright protected material with out paying for it.”

Not only does she claim that the law doesn’t matter, she very interestingly freuds copyright instead of copyright protected material. Could it be that making money off of others copyrights is EXACTLY what she does for a living?

That Youtube clip points me to another interesting one via the links at the end. It’s an interview with private law prof. Jan Rosén(sv). Eh I mean, Jan Rosén, president of the Association for Copyright(sv). This guy has repeatedly been interviewed in Swedish Olde Media under the unbiased guise of a private law professor. The Swedish blogosphere did not let this go by unnoticed and has given him the nickname Janne Jävig. It’s wordplay and doesn’t really translate but jävig means biased and Janne is merely a common nickname of people with the name Jan. It appears though that all media hasn’t picked up on this. Either that or the simply don’t mind lying to their viewers/readers.

Also related, The League of Noble Peers have released a Trial Edition of their Steal This Film as reported by TorrentFreak. They also link to some really funny quotes from the interrogations of Brokep, TiAMO and Ankata.