TEDxObserver - Rick Falkvinge - The Pirate Party - the politics of protest

In 2006, Rick Falkvinge, a Swedish software entrepreneur, founded a new political party 

centred around the subjects of file sharing, copyright and patents. He called it the Pirate 

Party and it rose to prominence after a government crackdown on the file-sharing site, 

the Pirate Bay. Since then, the Pirate Party has swept Europe and beyond to become an 

international political movement, active in 40 different countries with representation in 

the European parliament.



In Sweden, it's the largest party for voters under the age of 30 with 25% of the vote, and 

in September 2011, the German Pirate Party won an unprecedented 8.9 per cent of the 

vote and now has several members in the Berlin state parliament. Focused on the subjects 

of government transparency, internet privacy and copyright law, the Pirate Party hosts 

Wikileaks on its servers and uses new technology to leverage political power in new and 

interesting ways. In 2011, Foreign Policy magazine called Falkvinge one of the top 100

 global thinkers.




About TEDx, x = independently organized event



In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events 

that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks 

video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. 

These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized 

TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but

 individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)