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Sweden's Pirate Party set to launch private, anonymous ISP
Now they're preparing to offer Swedish residents Internet service. PirateISP will challenge other providers not only as additional competition, but as a 'defender of the end user' -- with its focus on protecting privacy and anonymity. According to the post at TorrentFreak, PirateISP will not allow the government to monitor its servers and they will not retain any log files.
Right now, the service is being beta tested in Lund, Sweden, by 100 residents of LKF -- an affordable housing initiative. Intial testing is secheduled to last two weeks, and PirateISP hopes to obtain 5% of the overall market in Lund (though I wouldn't be at all surprised if they surpass that goal). Director Gustav Nipe told TorrentFreak the aim is to start small to ensure quality of service. Yeah, so far this sounds about as far as you can get from the "forget quality, let's grab as many customers as possible and screw filesharers" approach of most ISPs in North America
Even if you don't file share, you've got to admit that having an ISP who is dedicated to protecting your rights sounds like a damn good idea. Hey, Canada's got a Pirate Party now... I wonder if they'll run one out of Ottawa in the near future...
photo by Flickr user sethstoll
Comments
14
Subscribe to commentsZaxkJul 20th 2010 10:14AM
Problem with this party is the name, their ideas are good. Filesharing is fine unless it's commercial...but the name suggest that they want to steal everything.
CarneyJul 20th 2010 10:36AM
It's not a suggestion - they're open and proud of it.
AemonyJul 20th 2010 10:39AM
Your statement is so very much true. It's kinda sad as all opposition in Sweden immediately jumps on the "only for piracy" bandwagon with some extras such as pedophiles, child pornography and such.
It would probably be better if they renamed the party/whatever into PrivacyParty and PrivacyISP.
LeonickJul 20th 2010 11:18AM
yea well i know they talk a lot about privacy and all that... but fact is most of their supporters and most within the party is mostly interested in pirating and that is a fact...
marcoJul 20th 2010 4:19PM
Imagine a group of pedo porn sharers, imagine an isp totally devoted to protect them....and others honest illegal file sharers that are innocent of illegal activity, of that sort.....i think that anonimity is not the solution of every thing .
SkuzFozJul 21st 2010 3:13PM
Pedophilia material isn't exactly a major market which isn't priced according to current needs to the end-users. Media is priced far higher than it's worth to users these days, and that's part of that the Pirate Party is trying to say. That's why piracy happens. There will always be people who steal because they can, but there will always be more people who steal because they have to.
CarneyJul 20th 2010 10:40AM
"they certainly have some kick-ass ideas about protecting the rights of Internet users"
What about the right not have your copyrighted content ripped off? A lot of hardworking content creators who depend on royalties or subscription income don't want their rights violated and their work stolen by some spoiled, entitled, out-of-touch brats who never grew up. Look around the world, Pirate Party - if the horror of having to pay, or respect the rights of, creative people who ask for it is your biggest problem, you have no problems.
Disband your party in shame and get a life.
Lee MathewsJul 20th 2010 10:45AM
"spoiled, entitled, out-of-touch brats who never grew up"
Does this include people who download copies of movies/CDs that they have purchased legally but can no longer use due to the condition of the disc?
I don't download anything illegal, but I'd still rather use an ISP who is willing to go to bat for me than one who sends me C&D notices out of the blue. And yes, I have had that happen.
Sebastian AnthonyJul 20th 2010 10:47AM
What about TV shows that aren't available in a particular country due to licensing issues?
In my experience, people who download TV also buy a lot of DVDs -- when they become available, of course :)
WilliamNighthawkJul 20th 2010 10:55AM
@Sebastian You really wanted to say animation didn't you. :P
CounterCorpJul 20th 2010 3:18PM
The purpose of copyright is *not* to create a business model for content creators to live on, or for corporations to maximize revenue from content -- it is to serve the public interest by ensuring that works are released into the public domain rather than hoarded by content creators. You have been brainwashed by the property-rights meme that pervades the U.S., and increasingly in Europe and elsewhere.
"The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors, but ‘[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts'."
-- Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
That last part -- "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" -- is from the Constitution (maybe you've heard of it). It doesn't say "to promote the enrichment of the people/corporations that hold copyrights". You and others might wish that were the case, but it's not ...
CarneyJul 20th 2010 2:50PM
Yes, Lee Matthews. Your CD or LP scratched beyond usability? Tape deck eat your tape?
Buy another. If you like and play that content THAT much, it should be worth it to you.
It's not at all the biggest imposition in the world, and both you and I know perfectly well that 99.999999% of file sharing in the world is pirating, and not "I'm just replacing my scratched disk" BS.
Lee MathewsJul 20th 2010 3:10PM
I'm not referring to anyone else's use, only MY use which could be interpreted as illegal. And no, it's not necessarily from excessive play -- I've got a 5 year old, things get scratched. What difference is there between me downloading the files from a PirateBay torrent than ripping the track myself when I bought the CD?
I'm genuinely curious about your thoughts, that's why I'm asking.
NRLItvJul 20th 2010 11:34AM
Great article. I interviewed Gustav when the Pirate ISP was still in stealth mode and agreed to not release the video until July. Here it is.
http://bit.ly/vodpod3