世界最大的免費文件共享網站“盜版灣”四名成員在上月被判有罪后，瑞典盜版黨在年輕人中的支持率急劇上升，顯著增加了該黨在6月份的議會選舉中贏得歐洲議會席位的機會。盜版黨雖與“盜版灣”并無關聯，但二者均提倡廢除版權，減少網絡監控。自從瑞典政府在版權法方面的立法越發嚴格之后，民眾對盜版黨的支持也越顯強勁。在一項針對6月份議會選舉的調查中，該黨獲得了瑞典民眾5.1％的投票支持，這樣的支持率基本可以確保該黨在歐洲議會贏得席位。

Hong Kong has been named the world's freest economy for the 15th year in a row, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Sweden's Pirate Party, which wants to reform copyright law, could ride a wave of discontent over tighter control of computer file-sharing all the way into the European Parliament in June.

The jail sentences handed out last month to the four Swedish men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing Web sites, have given a boost to the namesake party among young voters in Sweden, a recent opinion poll showed.

"It is definitely something that has put the spotlight on our issues," Christian Engstrom, the party's top candidate for the European Parliament, told Reuters.

"And it has demonstrated why it is so important, because the legal machine, if it's allowed to continue, is going to crush the Internet, starting with the Pirate Bay and then continuing on to other enterprises."

A DN/Synovate poll ahead of the Europe-wide vote in June showed the party, which is not linked to the Web site though some of its views coincide with those voiced by the Pirate Bay defendants, winning 5.1 percent of the Swedish vote.

That would be enough to secure the party, which wants to deregulate copyright, abolish the patent system and a decrease the level of surveillance of the Internet, a seat in the European parliament.

The party was founded in 2006 and won only 0.6 percent of the vote in the Swedish general elections that year.

The leader of the Pirate Party, Rick Falkvinge, believes that new Swedish laws, that for instance allow copyright holders to track down the IP-numbers of suspected file-sharers, are the main reason for the sudden popularity.

"We're seeing a shockwave of new repressive legislation that is seriously jeopardizing the core of our civil liberties," he said. "People are starting to wake up to that fact."

What will decide the outcome for the party is simply the question of whether its sympathizers will turn up to vote in the election that is usually plagued by low voter turn-out.

Torbjorn Larsson, associate professor of political science at Stockholm University, said there was a risk some of the Pirate Party supporters won't show up.

"Young people have a tendency not to vote. But if this issue stays on the agenda up to election day, it will make a big difference," he said.

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(Agencies)

（英語點津 Helen 編輯）