Page:Principles 2.0.pdf/1

  Background It is said that copyrights promote the creation of culture and no one seems to question it. We do. We claim that this widely held belief is false and that our common culture is being suffocated by copyrights.

Apart from this, we can point to the horrible fact that on July 1st, 2005, our own government criminalized over a million citizens by changing copyright in a direction that points far away from public opinion.

We also claim that patents suffocate innovation. By creating a monopoly on knowledge, they stifle competition and prevent development, not to mention the ways they are being abused by patent holders.

Last but definitely not least is the question of privacy. Sweden is on course for a society where every citizen is being constantly supervised by the government. We intend to change that course.   Citizens' Rights The Swedish constitution guarantees every citizen access to all basic human rights such as freedom of speech, protection against oppression and respect for personal integrity. The EU data retention act tramples on all of these rights by demanding telephone companies and Internet providers store information about every single phone call, every e-mail, every visited website and position of every mobile phone. This has the effect of chilling free speech, curtailing the right of free association and violating article 12 of the UN declaration of Human Rights. Not bad for a day's work.

Government exists solely for the betterment of society and the protection of its citizens, the very same citizens who legitimize the government. A government who uses its powers against its own citizens is essentially illegitimate. All rule of law must be firmly anchored in the will of the people governed by it or we risk total state oppression.

We aim to abolish the EU data retention act and strengthen the constitutional protection of all citizens' rights.   The Duality of Immaterial Law Copyrights and patents were created to promote the betterment of society by encouraging creators and inventors. Today, the technological and economical development has stripped them of their use and instead they have become a choke point for our common culture. A few large actors in the marketplace use their state sanctioned monopolies to dictate terms and set prices in a way that's decidedly not in our best interests. The original goals are no longer needed since the barriers of entry into creating culture and innovating technology have become so low that anyone can partake as a creator - the explosion of the Internet is testament to this force. There are more books, more content, more culture, more music, more articles, more innovations