Sweden Recognises New File-Sharing Religion
The nation of Sweden's been in technology news for the second time this week.
The first time was their thought of giving the nation's Twitter account to its citizens.
This time, however, things have taken a spiritual approach.
The Swedish government has now recognised a new religion, named "kopimism", with its main focal point is the right to file-share.
The Church of Kopimism's leader claims that file-sharing is a religious ceremony.
It took three tries for the Church of Kopimism to registered as a religious organisation by the Swedish government agency Kammarkollegiet, which did so just before Christmas 2011.
CTRL+C and CTRL+V (shortcuts for copy and paste on a PC) are considered as sacred symbols by the church, which does not condone illegal file-sharing, but focuses instead on an open distribution of knowledge for all.
The 19-year-old philosophy student and leader Isak Gerson founded the religion, which he hoped file-sharing will now gain religious protection.
In a statement, Gerson says: "For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament. Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore copying is central for the organisation and its members."
"Being recognised by the state of Sweden is a large step for all of Kopimi. Hopefully this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution," he added.
That said, many experts have said that if file-sharing gains religious protection, it will have little effect on the global crackdown on piracy.
What do you think of this move from the Swedish governing agency in registering Kopimism as a religion?
Source - BBC News
