Sweden’s File-Sharing Religion
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Here at The World’s Technology Podcast, we’ve never shied away from, shall we say, the more offbeat stories. And certainly this week’s episode contains one that’s sure to raise a few eyebrows. The Missionary Church of Kopimism, which has just been granted legal status in Sweden as a religious organization, enshrines the values of copying and sharing information. (Hence the symbol here, with the commands for “copy” and “paste” within the yin/yang). As the Church states: “In our beliefs, communication is sacred.” Serious business or dangerous cult? Well, you can decide for yourself. We’ve got an interview with the Church’s 19 year old founder, Isak Gerson.
Also on this week’s podcast, we hear a plea from a young man in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where many of the minerals that make the guts of our electronic equipment are mined, and where that mining often leads to armed conflict. Delly Mawazo Sesete’s plea is simple: he wants Apple to make a conflict mineral-free phone by 2013.
The previous two stories might make you want to take a break from tech. Well, you’re in luck because we’ve got an interview with Daniel Sieberg, author of the book The Digital Diet: The 4-Step Plan to Break Your Tech Addiction and Regain Balance in Your Life. We here at the Tech Podcast recommend checking that out only *after* you’ve finished listening to the show. Thanks.
Two interviews round out this show. The first is with photographer Graham Harrison. He talks about the important role that Kodak, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, has played in photography during the company’s 131 year history. I also highly, highly recommend reading this story of how one man at Kodak developed the first digital camera back in the mid-1970s. It’s a great read.
The second interview is with Tom Thwaites, author of a new book called The Toaster Project: Or a Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch. DIY fans will truly get a kick out of this story.
A reminder that you can ignore us equally on Twitter, Facebook, and now Google +.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 10:39 AM and is filed under Technology Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
On Kopimism, I am even living in the same city as Gerson.
Note that it has not been unusual for especially students to register religious organizations since it has been available. (Since the state-church separation 2000.) They do it because they want to make fun of still existing churches, or because it _is_ fun for a while: they get tax deductions for organizing ceremonies which can include food, booze and dancing.
The difference here is that Gerson has an ulterior motive of internet freedom, and that he has managed to get so many supporters. It may last.