First United Church of Kopimism, US

The following statement was recently released by the Swedish Church of Kopimism on their website.  I encourage everyone to read it and seriously consider its meaning.

Today news reached us that we didn’t get the appeal the TPB case to the supreme court.

We’re not surprised by this. The previous court cases has been filled of corruption. From having the minister of justice pressured by the US to illegally make a case of TPB, through the police officer responsible for the investigation (Jim Keyzer) “just happened” to get a job at Warner Brothers the weeks before I myself got promoted from a witness to a suspect, to the judges in the court cases being either board members, or in one case the actual chairman of the board, for the swedish pro-copyright society, it was clear to us that the supreme court – where many of the judges make a lot of money on their own copyrights – would be hard to persuade to take the case. Even though most of the public would want the case tested there. Even though it’s one of the most important cases for all of the EU.

Sweden speaks well about caring about the Internets. They spend a lot of money and time on helping activists all around the world. But who are these people that they’re so proud of helping? TPB has been one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship. All of the people involved in TPB at some time have been involved in everything from famous leaks projects to aiding people in the arab spring. We’ve fought corruption all over the world. We’ve promoted equal opportunities to poor nations around the globe. We’ve crushed the monopoly on information. Our close ones, many who have helped building TPB, have been mentioned as possible winners of the nobel peace prize. I’m not bragging – I’m saying this to make sure that people understand who’s doing the right thing here. I haven’t seen the entertainment industry help anyone but themselves.

Sweden is not used to corruption. Or rather; Sweden is not used to actually seeing the corruption that is there. The society is built upon the view that everyone has high morals and ethics in the swedish legal systems. The globalization of the world has changed that.
The entertainment lobby has bullied Sweden around. And not only Sweden. We see this in legislations such as SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, IPRED, IPRED2, TPP, TRIPS, just to name a few. All of these legislations have the same goal – make sure that the control of the internets goes to the rich people that already have some sort of control outside of the internets.

I’m just one of many millions standing up against this. Even though the outcome (which we still haven’t reached) is not favorable for my personal situation, the end goal that we fight for is so much more important than some peoples personal struggles. I’ll live with not being rich – which is easy when you’re not rich anyhow – the rest of my life. I’ll live with whatever sentence I’ll get in the end – I’ll just finish my book. The fight goes on with or without me, I’m just a pawn. But at least I’m a pawn on the morally right side. I’m proud as hell of what I’ve done and I would not change my involvement in any way. I actually think I could have done much more for the fight. And I will.

Today I urge everyone to make sure that the entertainment industry does not profit from them anymore. Stop seeing their movies. Stop listening to their music. Make sure that you find alternative ways to culture. I’ve founded Flattr.com, which allows you to support people that create directly instead of going through the corrupt entertainment industry. Use it in solidarity to the creators, and to your fellow citizen. Or start a competitor. Spread and participate in culture. Remix, reuse, use, abuse. Make sure noone controls your mind. Create new systems and technology that circumvent the corruption. Start a religion. Start your own nation, or buy one. Buy a bus. Crush it to pieces.

Always act with intent and maintain hardline kopimi.

Hello copiers and sharers,

A new article has been posted about the global expansion of Kopimism here.  I would like to take this time to bring up a sensitive subject for Kopimists.

Kopimists may encounter harsh criticism as they seed the faith, particularly when using analogue channels.  We should never relinquish our claim that the sharing of information is basically right and good!  Use your networks, all of them, from local area networks to social networks, to help people understand that we are a peaceful faith dedicated to the expansion of human knowledge and the spiritual growth of humanity.

The image shown in this post was generated and sent to me by a faithful Kopimist and creative talent, TBBack.  Anyone wishing to display their art on the site is welcome to submit it.  You can find our e-mail address on the contact page.  In your e-mail, please make sure to indicate that the images you wish to submit are open-use Kopimi images if you want them to be shared.

Copy and seed,

AdVATAR

Hello Everyone,

We’d like to welcome the Church of Kopimism in Lithuania to the growing list of the global Kopimism multiplication!

Copy is a right,
Advatar

Hello fello Kopimists,

You can find the torrent file that consecrates our most holy values here: #link removed#

It consists of several open-use Kopimi images.  We are holding a digital service in #kopimi.DService on the irc.telecomix.org IRC server.  If you cannot make the service, you can participate in spirit by downloading and seeding the torrent file linked above, and by sharing data with other people actively during the next 12 hours.

Datalove be with you all,

AdVATAR

EDIT: The link seemed to be prompting people for a password, so it has been removed.  There was no password originally, and the link was working for a few hours without this oddity.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to get to the appropriate computer in order to fix the issue.  Sorry for the confusion.

Dear Kopimists,

Kopimist Churches around the world will be holding a global digital service on February 2nd at 3 PM GMT (that’s 10 AM EST).  Any and all Kopimists are invited to attend, regardless of specific branch affiliation (or lack thereof).

Here are the details:

We will kick off the kopimony with a link for a publicly-tracked torrent file containing open-use Kopimi images.  These images will already be seeded by those who’ve already downloaded the torrent.  After that, members may choose to copy and share as much or as little as they choose.  The practicing of our faith through worship occurs at the discretion of each individual Kopimist – we are not a fascist faith.

Date: February 2, 2012

Time: 3 PM GMT

Location: irc.telecomix.org

Channel: #kopimi.DService

Duration: The official duration of this service will be 12 hours.  Members are welcome to attend for any portion of the service, and may stay longer if they so choose.

Connecting: If you have issues connecting to Telecomix, or if you are interested in using an anonymizing application such as Tor to connect, you may want to visit http://chat.telecomix.org for more information.

Until then, Copy and Seed.

Hello Fellow Kopimists,
We are at an historic moment for Kopimism in the USA.  The First United Church of Kopimism, US will be holding its first digital service late next week.  We will begin the service, celebrating the holy transfer of information, by listing the link for a bittorrent file containing several official Kopimipyramid images, as well as user-submitted Kopimi artwork.   We have arranged for several seeders to facilitate the initial copying of the file.  If you have any Kopimistic images that you want to see included in the inaugural digital service torrent, please send them to the e-mail address listed under the “Contact” link in the upper menu.  Details about timing and location will be officially posted in the next few days.

Until then, seed the faith with your fellow man, so that we may all transcend mortality through the exponential copy and preservation of information, our most sacred expression of humanity.

Datalove be with you,

AdVATAR

Hello brothers and sisters!

Though it is short, it affirms many of our basic beliefs about the goodness of sharing information.  I try to say this prayer once per day, though I want to remind everyone that none of our congregation has an obligation to recite prayers regularly.

Saying this prayer helps remind me that there is one basic right and good thing I can count on in this world: the spread of the holy informational sacrament.  Seed the faith with your friends, family, loves ones, and IRC acquaintances!

I love to see the data
Flowing, bit by byte
And when there is no seeder
I know it isn’t right.
I want to share my data
Every single way
So that my fellow Kopimists
May seed another day.

Datalove be with you. -AdVATAR

Hello Kopimists!

We now have a way for Kopimists to register with our church!  You can become a member by clicking on the Join The Church link at the top of this page, or by clicking here.

The founder of the First United Church of Kopimism, US was interviewed recently by Jason England and the good people at New Rising Media. You can read the interview here.

Copy and seed.

Hello Kopimists!  I just wanted to give a shout-out to Free Software Magazine for spreading the word about Kopimism!  Their specific article on Kopimism, here reminds us about the tendency of churches to, upon multiplying in number, take on different viewpoints about the same subjects, sometimes even contradicting each other.  While we at the Church of Kopimism in the US don’t believe that there should be any fascist dogma associated with the behaviors of non-operator Kopimists, we value remixing and invite anyone with a interest to copy, remix, and seed our religious faith!

Nothing can stop datalove.

Hello Fellow Kopimists!  The New Zealand branch of the Church of Kopimism has announced that it will seek formal recognition as a religion.  If you have any information regarding the administrative hurdles that they must overcome in their quest for recognition in New Zealand, or even if you just have some kind words of support, please visit their website and let them know ASAP!  You can see the official announcement through this link: Recognition as a religion in New Zealand

Make datalove all over the world!