File-Sharing Recognized as Religion in Sweden

Article:

http://torrentfreak.com/file-sharing-recognized-as-official-religion-in-sweden-120104/

Link to the church's website:

http://kopimistsamfundet.se/join-the-movement/

Cannot decide whether this is rather marvelous or hilarious. Interesting development in the world society, indeed.

Sounds a bit viral. I don't see the metaphysical aspect though nor any relationship to human spirituality but the site was down when I looked.

It's called kopimism. And as the librarian, I have no choice but to agree with their doctrine.

Couldn't this serve as precedent for later claims? I mean, if they try and fine someone for internet piracy, they could claim they're encroaching on their religious freedoms. After all, aren't pirates holy in Pastafarianism?

Blast, should've thought of that before I decided to go Jedi...

Xiam wrote: Couldn't this serve as precedent for later claims? I mean, if they try and fine someone for internet piracy, they could claim they're encroaching on their religious freedoms.

If your religious beliefs were that you had to murder and rape women and children on a weekly basis, I don't really think you'd be exempt.

Extreme example, but same principle.

There is something rather spiritual to me about having access to the worlds information any time, any place, anywhere. But to me, knowledge is the one power nobody can take away from you without an invasive procedure!

well what this comes down to, is "Religious beliefs are protected provided they do not harm another human being against their will" So This could be legit, the idea of being able to share any piece of information, instantaneously through a digital medium being a spiritual experience of bonding with distant human beings is one I rather like. I'd be all for this kind of thing, Then again I am pro-piracy as it raises awareness of works, doesn't actually cost anyone anything (by and large, the people who pirate weren't going to pay or be able to pay for what they pirate anyway, and the people who pay for entertainment still will pay the same amount they always do) As a side effect of this, people who would not before have payed for something, now have been exposed to something they like and will not only buy the products themselves if they can usually, but through word of mouth of quality more people will buy those products. If entertainment industry was more focused on creating quality entertainment that was worth spending money on, instead of using marketing to try to dupe people into making a purchase, which is the primary complaint against the entertainment industry these days, marketing holds the lion share of most budgets instead of actually producing quality. Then more people would even if they are first exposed to piracy. be more than happy to pay for a service or a product.

I'll freely admit, my first experience of The Elder Scrolls Series was through piracy, I pirated the PC version of Morrowind. I liked it so much, that I bought the game of the year edition, plus both expansions, and pre-ordered both Oblivion and Skyrim and bought the expansion packs for Oblivion (except the horse armor, which I pirated).

I have a similar story regarding Fallout 2, and countless other video game series, I started buying comic books after I read scans of certain issues and runs. I bought DVD sets of TV series I liked through watching them on .AVI files pirated such as The Wire.

Money was spent on these products that wouldn't have been otherwise, because of piracy. The Artists know this and this is why true artists truly do not care about piracy, because their fans will still buy their products, their merchandise, see their shows, go to their films, play their games and buy the expansions.

The perfect examples of Piracy being good for business is the rise of Steam, and Napster and later Itunes which has made immense profit for artists directly, using digital distribution. which before piracy was the only available way to get these products. But most entertainment companies do not understand, these corporations would rather stifle progress, constrict the internet and force congress and the US Justice department to act as their personal copyright enforcers. And ultimately it is their refusal to adapt that is the problem, not the internets

When you go to the cinema, you have to pay (good money) to be in a room full of people stuffing themselves, go through at least half an hour of adverts including adverts against piracy.
Buy a DVD, you sometimes get ads, some shitty menu that ruins the movie before you watch it, some lame arse ad against illegal downloads, some FBI warning against copying and showing the movie outside the family circle (in a country where they have no jurisdiction....), then you get the movie.
When yoou download, you get the movie and nothing else.

Now why is it that the one solution I'd willingly pay for is the one I can't pay for even if I wanted to.

Cygnus wrote: bought the expansion packs for Oblivion (except the horse armor, which I pirated).

I paid for my horse armour on my xbox!

Cygnus wrote: The perfect examples of Piracy being good for business is the rise of Steam, and Napster and later Itunes which has made immense profit for artists directly, using digital distribution. which before piracy was the only available way to get these products. But most entertainment companies do not understand, these corporations would rather stifle progress, constrict the internet and force congress and the US Justice department to act as their personal copyright enforcers. And ultimately it is their refusal to adapt that is the problem, not the internets

I get the feeling that we have both read the same news article. I completely agree with you in terms of music. I've seen bands live that I would never have seen otherwise.

ren wrote: some FBI warning against copying and showing the movie outside the family circle (in a country where they have no jurisdiction....)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuxO6CZptck