According to an ancient source, the Emperor of Persia gave orders that the waves of the sea must be punished by beating, as the storm hindered him from transporting his troups by ship.
That was quite stupid of him. Today, would he maybe have tried with Stockholm district court? Or a consultative conversation with the judge?
It is odd, how strongly the situation spring 2009 – on the area of civil rights – reminds about the struggles over freedom of press in France, during the decades preceding the French revolution.
A new world of ideas is emerging and would not have been able to, were it not for an accelerating technology.
Raids against secret printing houses, confiscated pamphlets and – even more – confiscated printing equipment. Orders of arrest and adventurous nightly transports between Prussian enclave Neuchâtel – where not only large parts of the Encyclopedia was produced, but also lots of daring pornography, between the atheist pamphlets – and Paris.
Between the 1730’s and 1780’s, the number of state censors in France was doubled by four. The raids against illegal printing houses was rising at about the same pace. In retrospect, we know it did not help. Rather, the increase of censorship and printing house raids had a stimulating effect on the new ideas and made them spread even faster.
Cultural Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth celebrated the Conviction of The Pirate Bay, although the case is still contested. Liljeroth gave a speech at a party with representatives from the media industry and the Swedish Composers of Popular Music (SKAP). The Pirate Party demands that Cultural Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth apologize and take back the statement.
