The consumer empowerment movement is celebrating a notable victory this week, thanks to Swedish voters in the European election. The Pirate Bay, a peer-to-peer file-sharing site – in the guise of the Swedish Pirate Party – now has its own member of the European Parliament, after receiving 7.1% of the Swedish vote.
Earlier this year, four founders of The Pirate Bay were jailed and fined £2.4m for breaching copyright laws. The victory represents a popular protest at that decision and provides a political platform for campaigners for file-sharing rights and the relaxation of copyright laws.
Pirate Bay was formed in 2003 and has around 3.5 million registered users.
It doesn’t host any content itself, but helps people share music tracks, TV and film content, to the obvious annoyance of the entertainment industry.