The Pirate Party has been around in Sweden for a few years already: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party Intere

The Pirate Party has been around in Sweden for a few years already: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party Interestingly, in my own district of Berlin, probably the most left-leaning in Germany, they also polled at 3.4%, whereas the chancellor's party (Christian Democrats) only polled at 9%. This isn't so much about the Pirate Bay as something that's been brewing for a while already. This was, in some senses, just a tipping point for the group as they'll now have a voice outside of Sweden. To my mind this is similar to the ascendency of the The Greens in the 80s as they landed in their first positions of real influence. The particularly interesting thing there is that the effect of real power was an increasing pragmatism at pushing the original core agenda; I wouldn't be surprised if we see something similar evolving in the Pirate Party in the coming years.