Annie Lööf plays into the hands of the anti-piracy lobby

Today, on the first day of the Center AGM, a wide range of cultural representatives wrote to DI debatt demanding that the Center Party's party leader candidate Annie Lööf should explain herself and apologize on the issue of the right to freely share copyrighted material online.

The origin was Lööf's answers to questions about her political orientation on SVT's aktuell on August 31.

One of the questions concerned file sharing of copyrighted material by private individuals. Lööf insisted that non-commercial file-sharing should be legalized, an issue that many consider to be past its sell-by date.

Unfortunately, Lööf's static, and rather poorly substantiated, argumentation became a passport straight into the arms of those who want to limit the copyright discussion to increased sanctions, responsibility for internet companies and generally tougher measures.

Outraged voices from that camp were not long in coming, and even more were heard today.

Tragically, the black-and-white, and media logic-friendly, rhetoric of both libertarian proponents as well as conservative forces within the creative community only shifts the focus from a more relevant, and for all involved, more beneficial debate. That of how copyright needs (read: must) evolve to become functional in a world based on digital communication.

If we start that debate together, we can more soberly consider what is needed to create the right conditions for consumers, creators, producers, distributors and the companies that supply the technology that makes our digital society possible.

This debate cannot be based on calls for more sanctions, more rights protection or total freedom from liability online. It must be based on how copyright can be legitimized by younger generations and how it can maximize the availability of content to build new, consumer-oriented services.

One suggestion is that Annie Lööf, when she is elected party leader, dusts off the proposal for a copyright commission that she herself developed during her time as spokesperson on copyright issues in the Center Party. There are many wise proposals. And they focus neither on sanctions nor on complete freedom to copy anything, anywhere online.