USA Patting Sweden on Its Shoulder

[DaBees-Knees]

http://www.p2pon.com/2010/12/09/usa-patting-sweden-on-its-shoulder/

Sweden has long ago become a battlefield in the war between the entertainment industry and illegal file sharing especially due to its worldly known BitTorrent Tracker, The Pirate Bay.

While many legal battles (including the most recent ones – with Pirate Bay being ordered to pay according to the last verdict even a higher damage fee) have been held on Swedish ground, the real stake was American money – that kind of money that sustains empires that just don’t like to be challenged to new ways, ideas, or less monopoly and luxury.

The United States have grown accustomed to supervising things closely regardless of the country. Now Sweden has been proving its good-ally features through its anti-piracy measures and, according to Sveriges Television (SVT), a report from the US embassy in Stockholm shows how US diplomats presented six points to Swedish authorities about file-sharing and copyright infringement owing to the collaboration Sweden is inclined to.

US authorities are happy with the fact Sweden has managed to tackle five of the six points. Among the requirements indicated by these points are – measures that would empower police and prosecutors when fighting to combat copyright to have access to IP-numbers, campaigns in the country’s schools to raise awareness about copyright issues, etc.

However, Swedish justice minister Beatrice Ask, doesn’t want the image of a Sweden that has followed US demands promoted in media. “We didn’t carry out changes after pressure from some other country. We address issues based on our own grounds,” she said in a interview to SVT pointing out that Sweden simply enforced rules which had international debates and relevance.

On the other hand Pirate Party deputy party leader Anna Troberg denounced the Swedish government’s unshakeable compliance before America’s “special interests”.
“It’s naturally fun to see that the Pirate Party’s hard work didn’t escape the eye of the United States, but it would have been even nicer if the Swedish government had chosen to play with an open hand,” she stressed.

"The United States have grown accustomed to supervising things closely regardless of the country"

It seems that just confirms what most of us had already realised.