Sweden’s Missionary Church of Kopimism considers copying digital files a religious experience and was officially recognized as a religion in 2012. While some fear it will encourage piracy, the church aims to protect legal sharing of digital knowledge. Piracy remains prevalent, with 40% of software illegally copied and 70% of internet users not seeing it as wrong.
Sharing what one has with others is a central tenet of many religions, and Sweden is widely considered one of the world’s most progressive nations, so it’s probably not surprising that the Scandinavian country is at the forefront of a new religious movement. What is quite shocking is what the religion wants everyone to share: digital files. The Missionary Church of Kopimism claims that the act of copying files to share information is a type of religious experience. In 2012, Sweden finally granted Kopimism founder Isak Gerson’s petition to officially recognize Kopimism as a religion. The decision has not been met with widespread approval, as many fear it will open the door to more digital piracy, but Gerson said the idea is to protect those who wish to legally offer digital knowledge to others, not to steal from artists or inventors. . “For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament,” he said in a statement. “Information has value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value is multiplied through copying. Therefore copying is essential for the organization and its members”.
Modern piracy:
An estimated 40% of the software on personal computers has been illegally copied.
On average, it takes less than two weeks for a film to appear online, often illegally, after being released in a US cinema.
According to surveys, 70% of Internet users do not think illegal copying is wrong.
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