Paradenitis

The issue of file sharing has been a bone of contention between music lovers and people in the entertainment industry. Giving a new twist to the tale is the news that the Pirate Party – a group of dedicated file-sharers – has decided to contest the forthcoming general elections in the UK after gaining considerable support in countries like Germany and Sweden. The Swedish Pirate Party has already proposed to reduce the copyright period from fifty years to five years.

Rick Falkvinge, the chief of the Pirate Party, got an opportunity to discuss his views in public when he was invited to the In The City music conference in Manchester. The chief expressed the view that file sharing should not attract penalty and that copyright rules must be relaxed.

Falkvinge’s views attracted a lot of criticism in the conference. A delegate even threatened him with physical harm, while according to the BBC, other delegates have accused him of being highly manipulative.

Yvette Livesey, the main organiser of the music conference, informed about the opposition she faced for her decision to invite the Pirate Party chief to place his views publicly. However, according to Livesey, there is no harm in opening up discussion on such a controversial topic. She believes that debates and discussions on the topic should have started earlier in order to avoid a situation like this.

There is no doubt that this demand to legalise file sharing has generated a lot of bad blood among the big bosses of the music industry, and many are of the view that if the Pirate Party manages to win the elections, it will ruin the business of many creative artists.

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