STOCKHOLM—The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is doing its part to battle copyright infringement online and elsewhere, but it appears not to understand the concept of democracy and the right to opinion and free speech, even if it's an unpopular opinon.
Case in point: the Pirate Party, growing in numbers in some European nations and even electing an EU represenative out of Sweden. As TechDirt reports, IFPI has reacted with suppressive hostility over the formation of a Pirate Party in Finland.
"We are absolutely against the idea that any political party can give their support to the idea of free use of protected content," IFPI said in a statement.
While someone with a political agenda advocating free use of protected content may be horrendous to content owners, unless violations are proven, case by case, their voices cannot simply be shut down. Unless, of course, one supports a totalitarian society, which IFPI seems to back, based on the organization's assertion that no political party should be allowed to support user content rights and, therefore, the Pirate Party shouldn't be allowed to exist period.
Also, as it's been noted, IFPI has misinterpreted the Pirate Party's platform, assuming it just stands for violating copyright, which is not the case if one actually reads the entire scope of the party's issues.
