(Ken Macharia) Sweden has formally recognized a ‘religion’ whose core belief is the right to file-share.
The church of Kopimism maintains that all information sharing is “holy” and that the value of information multiplies when it’s shared. The file-sharing, states the Church, is akin to a religious service.
Like all religions, the Church of Kopimism has ‘sacred’ symbols. CTRL+C and CTRL+V (keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste) are the ‘holy’ grail of the church.
Official recognition of the Church of Kopimism by Sweden gives the organization special privileges including legal protection and potential access to government-assisted funding.
According to a press release on the Church’s website (which caved and went off-line due to the enormous traffic it received), Kopimism has been pushing for legal recognition in Sweden for more than a year.
The religion was founded by 19-year-old philosophy student and leader Isak Gerson. He hopes that file-sharing will now be given religious protection.
Experts say the recognition will give impetus to piracy even as the crackdown on piracy moves away from individual pirates to the systems that support piracy.
Soon, people will cite the freedom to pirate as a religious right.