Rick Falkvinge - Pirate Party: Why Civil Liberties & Financial Freedoms Need To Be Defended

First broadcast January 5, 2014

Rick Falkvinge is a Swedish IT Entrepreneur and Founder of the very first Pirate Party in Sweden in 2005. He is a worldwide speaker on Internet liberty and the right to privacy, a proponent of Bitcoin and the author of “Swarmwise: The Tactical Manual to Changing the World.”

Rick created his first company, Infoteknik in 1988 at the age of just 16 and continued to innovate in the space throughout the 90s. In 2005 he began to consider creating a political party focused on the issues of file sharing, copyright, and patents. When the Pirate Party website went live in January the following year it received over three million hits in the first two days. Rick subsequently decided to take out a large bank loan, quit his job, and started building the Pirate Party full-time.

At the European Elections in 2009 the Pirate Party achieved 7.13% of the vote under Rick’s leadership, catapulting Rick into the global spotlight. The party became the largest party by far for voters under 30, with 25% of those votes, leading to Rick claiming the result to be a re-ignition for the civil liberties fight in Europe and the world.

In 2012, TIME Magazine shortlisted Rick as one of the world’s most influential people, and The Guardian listed him as one of the world’s Top 20 Internet Freedom Fighters.

This episode with Rick was first broadcast on January 5, 2014, but Rick’s ideals are as relevant today as they were then and I know you’re going to love this reboot of our conversation.

Download clips

A number of clips from this exclusive interview are now available to download, share and repost. Spread the word: grab these clips today!

1. A Brief History Of The Pirate Party
2. The Relationship Between The Pirate Party And The Pirate Bay
3. We Don’t Create For Money We Create Because Of Who We Are
4. Piracy As An Advertising Mechanism
5. How Bitcoin Shook The Tax System
6. The Difference Between The American And Swedish Corporate Culture
7. If You Play By The Rules You Will Always Lose
8. The Cheat Code To Life & The Reason For Haters
9. If You Have A Passion For Something There Are No Limits
10. Advice On How To Protect Your Privacy In The Digital Age
11. Bitcoin is the Future
12. Bitcoin Will Hit $5 Million
13. Commodore Vic beats iPad!
14. Geeks vs Oil Tycoons
15. Napster & The Pirate Party
16. Steal This Video