Pirates Sponsored by Government

With 4,800 members, Ung Pirat (Young Pirate) claimed to be Sweden’s third largest youth organisation and, as such, was considered eligible for a share of a 247 million kroner (£21.6 million) grant awarded by the National Board for Youth Affairs (Ungdomstyrelsen) government agency.  

 In a press release, Ung Pirat spokesperson Stefan Flod enthused, ‘It is truly gratifying and shows what we are achieving with our politics… We have our finger on the pulse of the issues important to young people today. Our political issues touch us deeply, because they concern our lives.’

 Ung Pirat shared the same views as its parent group, the Swedish Pirate Party, which was opposed to a new law based on the EU’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), which was designed to aid the tracking of people who illegally share copyrighted material on the internet.   The party planned to stand for European and national parliaments on a platform to ‘reform copyright law, to get rid of the patent system (and) ensure that citizens' rights to privacy are respected.’

 Lars Gustafsson, the CEO of record company sector organisation IFPI to Svd.se. observed that, ‘It is surprising. Ung Pirat works in principle to encourage something illegal. That they then receive money from a state institution is remarkable.’

 Defending its decision, Per Nilsson, the director-general of the National Board for Youth Affairs said, ‘It is our understanding that they want to change legislation around copyright issues and that is an opinion that they are entitled to.’ [ADD]

2009

Sweden: 2009