The Times are changing! For the better...

[EvilNed]

Soon, at least in Europe, the age of senile, grey haired, greedy politicians are over. Only last night we saw the beginning of what be the future. The Pirate Party got 7,1% of the votes from Sweden in the EU elections. A newly started party (The guy who started it wrote the manifest on a napkin 2006), who are strictly against surveillance and all other forms of infringement of personal rights.

I can't wait for the Parliament elections. This is really a wake-up call for the old fat bastards.

EDIT: The Pirate Party has formed in other countries as well. The latest being Slovenia and Greece.

[Tricky]

Have you seen the UK results?the conservatives & UKIP have cleaned up which was expected,labour have been absolutely spanked,even losing some of their core supporter areas!Even the fascist BNP party have gained 2 seats on the euro parliament,partly because of the state of our country,but mainly because of voter apathy.I know people who are crying in their cereals about the BNP this morning,but a few days ago "couldnt be bothered to vote because it makes no difference", its these people who are giving fascists a foothold by not voting against them!as much as i dislike the BNP for being racist nazi thugs & would never vote for them,they are still entitled to their opinions in a democracy & have won their seats fair & square.
Regardless of this (the BNP wins are still far too small a percentage to be any kind of real threat) im quite pleased with the results seen as all the eurosceptic parties have come out on top,hopefully this election will wake up the political elite to the fact britain does not want to be swallowed up by a european superstate!

[Craig]

Great news for Sweden, wish we had a registered Pirate Party over here I know a fair few people who'd almost definitely have voted for them.

[capncnut]

Soon, at least in Europe, the age of senile, grey haired, greedy politicians are over. Only last night we saw the beginning of what be the future. The Pirate Party got 7,1% of the votes from Sweden in the EU elections. A newly started party (The guy who started it wrote the manifest on a napkin 2006), who are strictly against surveillance and all other forms of infringement of personal rights.
Excellent stuff, Ned. This is what we need over here. An end to all the penny pinching, champagne quaffing, closet transvestite old dinosaurs and get some new blood in to shake things up. 7.1% is pretty f**king important.

[AcesandEights]

I hate pirates.

Buuuut, this does sound like good news on the international front, however all these things are cyclical. It's only so long before reformist parties themselves need to be cleaned up and purged, almost root and branch to get back to basics.

[Danny]

i must listen to a certain bob dillon song now.

-and watch the watchmen.

[Mike70]

that's excellent ned. it's about time we got rid of out of date copyright laws and 75 year olds making decisions for people living in a time that said 75 year olds are totally out of date with.

[EvilNed]

These days patents are mostly used by big co-orporations to sue smaller companies. So if they have to go, I'm Okay with that.

But as for information spreading, this is not really all that these pirates are for. One major issue here is the Swedish "FRA Law", which can be more or less described as the swedish variant of the Patriot Act. The 75 year olds passed the law last year and this is the result: They're losing voters. Last election, the Pirate Party didn't even exist! And now the older generation of senile assholes have to come to this realization: Do what the people want and get rid of these laws, OR get outed in the next parliamental election and these guys will do it for you.

As for the IPRED law, it also has to go and the Pirate Party are exactly the instrument we need to get rid of it. First of all, it's not acceptible that huge companies can gain right to check out your computer if they "suspect" you're doing illegal downloading. We don't want to turn this world into one where the big coorporations rule. Fine, make money, that's unavoidable, but stay out of my fucking private life!

In both Finland and Ireland, where the IPRED law has been passed through, downloading has increased with something along the lines of 150%. Nice going, you just gave us all a reason to download more stuff, jackasses... Out of spite!

Heck, I'll download shit just to piss em' off.

EDIT: Oh and all you brits, don't worry. I'm pretty sure that after this, the Pirate Party will spread to more countries in Europe. Or at least their ideals will.