Sweden Bans Downloading Copyrighted Files

The demands of intellectual property owners versus the public good of freely exchanged information took a turn in favor of large movie studios, record mega-corporations and designers of buggy computer operating systems this week. Sweden changed its laws making it illegal to download copyrighted material for personal use. The descendants of the Vikings are likely to continue their pirating ways, though.

Now, the laws on intellectual property may have made sense before the invention of the photocopier, but once the internet and high-speed, high-resolution printers turned up, they became worse than useless – they became irrelevant. The only reason that the new Harry Potter book won’t be available for downloading is legal. J.K. Rowling is a hero in these parts, and she deserves every penny she gets for her work. But enforcing her copyright becomes ever harder as technology blooms.

The US Supreme Court held, in its last term, that those who write file-sharing software are essentially aiding and abetting those who are pirating intellectual property. The same court system doesn’t allow a murder victim’s estate to sue Smith and Wesson, but Grokster is likely to be sued to death. Property seems more important than people on occasion. However, this won’t change anything because the regulation of technology only works when the regulations reinforce the value of the technology rather than circumscribe it.

Yet Sweden is now going to be able to go after folks who download games, music and films. In a country of 9 million, some 900,000 regularly do this. The law that is on the books is only enforceable if 10% of the nation is prosecuted. Just where is the Swedish prosecutor’s office going to find a jury that will convict – Norway? And besides, isn’t there a fair use exception (e.g., for research purposes), that allows one to photocopy books? Why is that different from downloading an HTML file for personal use?

There is also a cultural issue here. Unlike America or Britain, there is not a vast Swedish entertainment business capable of spending million to elect politicians to rigorously enforce this law. Bill Gates doesn’t vote in Swedish elections, nor does Steven Spielberg. All the benefits of illegal downloading are spread throughout Swedish society while virtually no Swedes are harmed (except for some film and TV people and the odd musician – most of whom leave Sweden to make it big). Until the law address that fact, there is no reason to believe many Swedes are going to change their ways.

Despite the fact that this journal retains the copyright for all of its original content, no one expects vast royalties to flow in from the new Swedish laws, and indeed, it might prove flattering to have this content stolen.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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