![Kopimizm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Kopimizm.svg)
The Missionary Church of Kopimism (in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
''Missionerande Kopimistsamfundet''), is a congregation of
file sharers who believe that copying information is a sacred virtue
and was founded by Isak Gerson,
[ a 19-year-old philosophy student, and Gustav Nipe in ]Uppsala, Sweden
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
in the autumn of 2010. The Church, based in Sweden, has been officially recognized by the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency
The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency ( sv, Kammarkollegiet) is a Swedish administrative authority under the Ministry of Finance. Established in 1539 by King Gustav Vasa, it is the oldest public agency in Sweden.
Role
It is ta ...
as a religious community in January 2012, after three application attempts.
Gerson has denied any connection between the Church and filesharing site The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay (sometimes abbreviated as TPB) is an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay allows visitors to search, download, and contribute mag ...
, but both groups are associated with the Swedish art and hacking collective Piratbyrån
Piratbyrån ( "The Pirate Bureau") was a Swedish think tank established to support the free sharing of information, culture, and intellectual property. Piratbyrån provided a counterpoint to lobby groups such as the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau.
...
.
Name
The name Kopimism derives from the words ''copy'' and ''me'' which are the fundamental roots of the Church's beliefs and calls for an invitation to copy information. The word "Kopimi" first showed up on a pirate Agency Forum. Isak Gerson, one of the core founders saw something beautiful and theological in this concept of "copy me" and argued that the digital sharing of data is a fundamental act in our universe through the reproduction and copying of cells, DNA, and genes and that the entirety of the internet is essentially for sharing.
Gerson has been credited with once saying, "The only thing we can do as Christians now, I suppose, is to do what Jesus tried doing – and do it better."
Tenets
The followers of the religion are called ''Kopimists'' from ''copy me''.
A "Kopimist" or "Kopimist intellectual" is a person who has the philosophical belief that all information should be freely distributed and unrestricted. This philosophy opposes the monopolization of knowledge in all its forms, such as copyright, and encourages file sharing of all types of media including music, movies, TV shows, and software. In fact, the act of withholding and economizing information through copyright is against the sacredness of information. In its spiritual emphasis on copying as an ideal, Kopimism shares values with Chinese aesthetic traditions, in which "copying is valued not only as a learning tool (as it is in the West) but as artistically satisfying in its own right," a concept also called ''duplitecture''.
According to the church, "In our belief, communication is sacred." No belief in gods or supernatural phenomena apart from Kopimi itself is mentioned on their web site. '' CTRL+C'' and '' CTRL+V'', the common computer shortcut keys for "Copy" and "Paste," are considered sacred symbols. Some groups believe that Kopimi is considered to be a god, and others believe it to be a sacred symbol and spirit residing within every living being.
The community also holds a religious service known as "kopyacting" in which information is distributed to the believers using photocopiers.
According to the Kopimist constitution:
* Copying of information is ethically right.
* Dissemination of information is ethically right.
* Copymixing is a sacred kind of copying, more so than the perfect, digital copying, because it expands and enhances the existing wealth of information.
* Copying or remixing information communicated by another person is seen as an act of respect and a strong expression of acceptance and Kopimistic faith.
* The Internet is holy.
* Code is law.
On January 5, 2012, Kopimism was accepted by Sweden as a legitimate religion with an estimated 4,000 members. The religion's association with illegal file sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...
has been said not to be a sign that illegal file-sharing will be excused from Sweden's zero-tolerance approach to the controversial matter.[
]
International locations
Kopimism has also taken root in multiple nations, including:
* Canada
* Japan
* Israel
* United States of America (including in the state of Illinois in the United States where Kopimism has registered as a non profit 503(c) organization in the form of a church.)
First wedding
On April 28, 2012, the Missionary Church of Kopimism held their first wedding. The wedding took place in Belgrade, Serbia
Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 millio ...
, between a Romanian
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**Romanian language, a Romance language
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woman and an Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
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*** Regional Ita ...
man. The holy ceremony was conducted by a Kopimistic Op, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask
The Guy Fawkes mask (also known as the ''V for Vendetta'' mask or Anonymous mask) is a stylised depiction of Guy Fawkes (the best-known member of the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to blow up the House of Lords in London on 5November 1605) created by ...
, while a computer read vows and some of Kopimism's central beliefs aloud.
The church declared: "We are very happy today. Love is all about sharing. A married couple shares everything with each other. Hopefully, they will copy and remix some DNA-cells and create a new human being. That is the spirit of Kopimism. Feel the love and share that information. Copy all of its holiness."
Gerson, the missionary leader of the Church of Kopimism, attended as a witness during the wedding.
Controversies
Both founders, Gerson and Nipe have had an extensive background in online activism and served as major players in the Swedish Piracy Movement which caused many journalists and government officials in Sweden to speculate on the real goals of the creation of this organization.
There was severe backlash amongst the media and Christian journals in 2011 after the founders first submitted their application for registering as a religion as journalists condemned the Missionary Church of Kopimism as "a political adventure", "a PR stunt", and "a devaluation of religion".
See also
* Anti-copyright
Criticism of copyright, or anti-copyright sentiment, is a dissenting view of the current state of copyright law or copyright as a concept. Critics often discuss philosophical, economical, or social rationales of such laws and the laws' implem ...
* Culture vs. Copyright
''Culture vs. Copyright: A Diary of a Naïve Philosopher'' is a philosophical diary by the Ukrainian American scholar Anatoly G. Volynets, published in 2014. It is Volynets' first book, consisting of dialogues among five first graders alternated w ...
* Gift economy
A gift economy or gift culture is a system of exchange where valuables are not sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. Social norms and customs govern giving a gift in a gift culture; although there ...
* Information wants to be free
"Information wants to be free" is an expression that means all people should be able to access information freely. It is often used by technology activists to criticize laws that limit transparency and general access to information. People who cri ...
* List of new religious movements
A new religious movement (NRM) is a religious, ethical, or spiritual group or community with practices of relatively modern origins. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may exist on the fringes of a wider religion, in which case they will be dis ...
* Parody religion
A parody religion or mock religion is a belief system that challenges the spiritual convictions of others, often through humor, satire, or burlesque (literary ridicule). Often constructed to achieve a specific purpose related to another belief sy ...
References
External links
*
{{New religious movements
File sharing
Kopimism
Religion in Sweden
Religious organizations established in 2012