Finnish Pirates Enter Political Arena
The Finnish Pirate Party, which is dedicated to relaxing copyright rules, says it has collected the 5,000 signatures needed for it to register as an official political party.
In Sweden, the Pirate Party saw a rush of interest in reaction to the guilty verdicts that were handed to the four Swedish Pirate Bay architects for breaching Sweden's copyright laws. Harri Kivistö, Vice Chairman of the Pirate Party of Finland, says his party has seen a similar surge of interest, however, on a smaller scale.
Polls indicate that more than 20 percent of young Swedes below 30 plan to vote for the Pirate Party in the European Parliamentary election. The Finnish Pirates, however, did not collect enough signatures in time to run in the EU elections.
The Finnish Pirate Party’s agenda includes overhauling copyright laws and abolishing patents.
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