Robocopyright ACTA

This is just too good.

No room for Internet censorship in a democracy

"There's no room for Internet censorship in a democracy. The EU should impose Internet censorship."

In other words, the EU should not be considered a democracy. This might not be what Folkpartiet politician Cecilia Wikström meant to say, but it's the message she's communicating in this letter, where she promotes Internet censorship as a means of fighting child pornography despite of her own reasoning that censorship will have little or no effect. That's like saying "we know banning action films from TV won't stop the violence, but we still want to do it". Why?

What's with these Folkpartiet Cecilias who are hellbent on Internet censorship without being able to present any credible argument that it is in fact a good idea? Stop hiding behind the ridiculous "think about the children" tactics and just come out and tell us who's paying you to stick to a stance that you don't even believe in.

The alternatives to Internet censorship have been discussed a million times before, so I won't go into details, but keywords are due process, shutting down and prosecute the offenders if they're found guilty. That's the way of a democracy.

Photo: Wikimedia.

Taliban loves iPhone

The Taliban apparently loves Apple's iPhone. Perhaps they feel Apple's ideology goes well with their own? You know, a totalitarian view of the world where one strong and unquestionable leader tells you exactly what to think, what to do (and most importantly in Apple's case, what NOT to do) and exactly how to do it in the most limiting and narrow-minded way?

Something tells me the Taliban are not huge fans of the more democratic approaches of open standards, interoperability and compatibility.

Life behind the iron curtain

I woke up today and realized I'm living in DDR. Who would have thought, on that fateful day in 1989, that the fall of the Berlin wall, and the fall of the iron curtain, would in fact not export democracy and freedom to the east, but rather oppression and surveillance to the west? Who could have imagined that in Sweden in 2009 one would have to meet in secret places, talk quietly and constantly look over one's shoulder in order to stay out of the prying eyes and ears of the "Ministerium für Staatssicherheit"?

I sure as hell didn't.

A brave new world

It's a brave new world, indeed...

Democracy the EU way

Found this little clip on Youtube that shows how the EU democracy works: "The voters are stupid and don't know their own good. That's why we'll completly disregard them and do whatever we want anyway. There's too much political prestige in this to respect the democracy". Way to tell them, Wallström!

No democracy for you

I've written about the fact that I'm not allowed to vote in the EU elections in a blog post called "No democracy for me". Turns out the question of democracy is just as relevant for EU citizens who are entitled to vote, following what appears to be a large scale election fraud in Sweden, where election tickets for The Pirate Party have been hidden or thrown away by the officials at the polling stations!

How this grave attack on the democracy has not caused more attention in the media is beyond me. In fact none of the larger newspapers in Sweden seem to have written about it. I can only imagine the commotion if the Socialist Democratic Party was the victim, and not The Pirate Party.

No democracy for me

I just found out that I will not be able to exercise my democratic right to vote in the elections to the EU parliament. That's what you get for being a non-EU citizen living in the EU...

Equally frustrating is the fact that I won't be able to vote in the Riksdagsval (election for the Swedish parliament, the "Riksdag") in 2010, so even though I live in Sweden, work in Sweden and pay tax in Sweden (and have been doing so for three years now), I'm not allowed to vote for politics I believe in and feel will make my living, work and tax-paying in Sweden a bit more enjoyable.

Damnit! Time to change some rules here, and adapt them to the phenomenon of globalization. Yes, people do travel and live and work abroad these days, and to insist they change citizenship every time they move, just to be able to parttake in decisions that affect themselves, is just ridiculous.