An arranger from a previous gig I spoke at sent me one of the best summaries of the copyright wars I’ve seen so far. It’s from the FreeNet Philosophy FAQ.

This is what I say in my “Copyright Regime vs. Civil Liberties” keynote, but condensed into one paragraph:

Of course much of Freenet’s publicity has centered around the issue of copyright, and thus I will speak to it briefly. The core problem with copyright is that enforcement of it requires monitoring of  communications, and you cannot be guaranteed free speech if someone is monitoring everything you say. This is important, most people fail to see or address this point when debating the issue of copyright, so let me make it clear:
You cannot guarantee freedom of speech and enforce copyright law.

It is for this reason that Freenet, a system designed to protect Freedom of Speech, must prevent enforcement of copyright.

This is one of the most succinct and to-the-point summaries of the copyright wars I have seen to date.

This goes not only for technical systems such as FreeNet, but also for political endeavours and legislation. Any area where you are charged with protecting freedom of speech (and you are as a politician), it goes that you cannot protect today’s copyright, and vice versa. Unfortunately, today’s politicians have failed to see this connection, and have systematically dismantled freedom of speech in favor of copyright enforcement.

The Pirate Party seeks to address and redress this. We aim to safeguard freedom of speech. We don’t really seek to destroy enforcement of noncommercial copyright per se — it’s just a necessary side effect, one that has positive spinoffs of its own.

After all, we are reforming copyright to become commercial-only, and end the conflict at its core. But the reason for doing so is to prioritize FoS.