English script

Internet Pirates

 

00'08

You are inside the EU Parliament. Over night, the establishment will hear the case of the Pirate Party.

 

00'17

OT Christian Engström, EU Parliamentarian

I will fight for our goals. Thousands of activists are on the street fighting, now we need to continue that fight in Parliament.

 

00'28

Piracy has mostly emerged, in response to one powerful opponent - the entertainment industry. This industry is highly equipped to work against file sharing on the Internet.

 

00'36

OT Anders Rydell, Author

But as the film industry came under pressure due to this illegal file sharing, the U.S. Government threatened Sweden with tough sanctions if it didn’t stop this activity.

 

00'48

The Pirate Bay website is taking on the entertainment industry. After three days, the new servers are ready. But then it backfires as it is raided by the Swedish police.

 

00'57

OT Anders Rydell, Author

The raid against The Pirate Bay acted as a catalyst for the Pirate party. The Internet suddenly became a political battleground.

 

01'07

Individuals started going online, infiltrating the political system and forming their own party.

 

01'20

OT Rickard Falkvinge, chairman of the pirate party

We had to found a new party to make it clear to the old politicians: understand our concerns or we’ll take your jobs.

 

01'32

The Pirates have mobilized an entire generation of young Swedish onliners.

 

 

 

01'41

OT Rickard Falkvinge, chairman of the Pirate party

The pirate movement had talked to the politicians for three whole years. Largely they ignored us. They were so focused on their own little areas that they weren’t interested in free speech, nor for the protection of privacy on the Internet.

 

02'05

Out of all the parties in Sweden, The Pirates now have the largest youth membership.

02'13

OT Snild Dolkow, Young Pirate

When they wanted to turn off Internet sharing, I was so angry, I had to do something.

 

 

02'25

OT Truls Nyberg, Young pirate

Many young people are becoming involved in politics for the first time, inspired by being a part of this new movement.

 

02'36

OT Peter Elmered, Young pirate

Public opinion was on our side when it came to sentencing. That was unimaginable before the election.

 

02'44

The founders of ‘The Pirate Bay’ are in court for aiding the violation of copyright law. They have enabled millions of Internet users to download and make pirate copies of copyrighted material.

 

02'59

Text insert: District Court, Stockholm, 17. April 2009

OT Tomas Norström, Judge

Today, the Stockholm District Court rules on the Pirate Bay case. The defendants are found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison.

 

03'12

The industry had won. But the Swedes were shocked by such an unsympathetic industry.

 

03'18

OT Rickard Falkvinge, chairman of the pirate party

The music publishers think they are the music industry. But they’re not. They only produce stupid plastic discs that are now no longer required.

 

03'32

OT Henrik Pontén, Anti-Piracy Office

In serious political discussions we always win our arguments. That is why laws are made in our interest and we get justice in court. You can say that the perception from the outside is what we have lost, but in reality we have won.

 

04’01

OT Per Strömbäck, Copyright Expert

In the future, we must protect those people who have created new content and have put it online and not those who have made pirate copies and put them on Youtube. It is about the protection of professional content, without which there is nothing.

 

04'18

The "Internet generation" use the skills of others found online.

 

04'26

One example is Radio DJ "Nougie". He has taken Michael Jackson's voice from Youtube and mixed it with his own beat. He doesn’t worry about whether it will get him into trouble.

 

04'33

OT Daniel Jadama, Radio-DJ alias Nougie

It is Billy Jean, as I guarantee you’ll never have heard it. This is something special, only the special DJ’s have it.

 

04'49

This is the most famous example of copyright infringement - The White Album by the Beatles mixed with Jay-Z's Black Album. A mega hit on the Internet.

 

05'05

EMI, the rights holders of the Beatles, keep trying to stop the song by DJ Danger Mouse.

 

05'11

OT Daniel Jadama, Radio-DJ alias Nougie

Is it worth all the effort for the record companies to try and stop something that it cannot stop? This is something quite independent regarding the rules of the Internet.

 

05'32

OT Siva Vaidhyanathan, Lecturer, New York University

Danger Mouse does is not deserving, the same goes for The Beatles and Jay –Z.  It is the lawyers from BMI that have made the box office, they are deserving of the success.

 

05'55

OT Christian Engström, EU Parliamentarian

 The current copyright law restricts new ideas and innovations in many areas. We want to give Europe a head start and loosen the stranglehold the law has on intellectual property and inspire innovation and culture.

 

06'13

The Pirate Party has chosen Unni Drouge, the Swedish best-selling author, to defend piracy. Her book is free on the Internet.

 

06'24

OT Unni Drouge, Author

If my readers buy a book and pass this to their friends and then someone else borrows it, should I prohibit that? We share what we enjoy. It’s great to pass things on to others in order to inspire them; to spread culture.

 

 

 

06'47

Despite the free downloads of Drouge’s book, the print edition sold very well. Through her online presence, Drouge is known more than ever before. And many still want a hard copy and not from the net.

 

06'58

OT Unni Drouge, Author

Deep in my heart I'm a pirate and I will always be. I say: Embrace the future, have no fear. They come anyway.

 

07'09

The Pirate Party wants a future in which everyone has the possibility to use other people’s work. Nobody should halt progress just because he owns the rights or patents.

 

07'22

OT Christian Engström, EU Parliamentarian

Our movement is comparable to the environmental movement in the 80s. More and more people have noticed that their environment is important. The old politicians have a practical understanding of the movement as green parties were emerging all over Europe. We will do the same with our policy in the information age.

 

07'46

OT Rickard Falkvinge, Pirate Party Chairman

Yes, we already see the success. We are one facet of a global movement.

 

07'54

Until now, the Pirate Party’s agenda has been very specific. If they were to join the People's Party its field of action would have to extend. Would they be prepared to do so?

 

08'07

OT Henrik Pontén, Anti-Piracy Office

No, the traditional parties would pick up the ideas of the pirates and integrate them into their own program. The Pirates would then not be required anymore; they will just disappear.

 

08'20

 

Whether with or without the Pirate Party, they’ve made a powerful impact in Sweden. And now with a seat in the European Parliament, the entertainment industry is no longer so at ease with their presence.

 

 

08'33

End

Reporter: Patrick A. Hafner

Camera: Fredrik Andersson, Casimir Reuterskiöld

Editor: Wilfried Rosteck