purplecthulhu

Actually, the exact policies of PPUK are still under discussion, but so far they're not set on completely dismantling copyright, just on decriminalising individual sharing of information online. My problem with them is the name. OK, they get the recognition from the Swedish originals, and there's a long history of groups expropriating the negative names given to them and turning them into something positive (at least amongst their own community). However, I'm with Stallman on the term Piracy (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Piracy). As I put it in an article I'm working on at the moment: Piracy is a hideous crime involving the armed hijack of a vessel at sea and the theft of the cargo and even the vessel itself often while employing savage violence against the crew and any passengers. The link between this heinous crime and unauthorised copying of material under copyright is one drawn by those who cannot justify the status of their holding of copyright, and who must label the act of copying as something so hideous that no one can argue against it as the only way of winning their case. The author is with Richard Stallman on this usage and therefore describes it technically as unauthorised copying. Even the ``illegality'' of such an action is uncertain in many cases without deep examination of the circumstances --- not all unauthorised copying is illegal.