the Church of Kopimism

Casper Hedberg for The New York Times

Stockholm Journal

Taking File Sharing to Heart, and Church

By JOHN TAGLIABUE

The Swedish government has recognized the Church of Kopimism, whose central dogma is that file sharing is sacred. Above, Isak Gerson, left, and Gustav Nipe. 

Missionary Church of Kopimism

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The Kopimi symbol

Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V

The Missionary Church of Kopimism (in Swedish Missionerande Kopimistsamfundet), founded by 19-year-old philosophy student Isak Gerson,^[1] is a congregation of file sharers who believe that copying information is a sacred virtue.^[2][3][4] The Church, based in Sweden, has been officially recognized by the Swedish Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency ("kammarkollegiet") as a religious community, after three application attempts.^[1][5]
Gerson has denied any connection between the Church and filesharing site the Pirate Bay.^[6]

Contents 1 Tenets 2 First wedding 3 Sharing of information in religions 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

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 piracy of all types of media including music, movies, TV shows, and software.^[7]
According to the church, "In our belief, communication is sacred."^[2] No belief in gods or supernatural phenomena is mentioned on their web site. CTRL+C and CTRL+V, the computer shortcut keys for "Copy" and "Paste," are considered sacred symbols.
Kopimism made simple^[8]:

• All knowledge to all
• The search for knowledge is sacred
• The circulation of knowledge is sacred
• The act of copying is sacred.

According to the Kopimist constitution ^[9] :

• Copying of information is ethically right.
• Dissemination of information is ethically right.
• Copymixing is a sacred kind of copying, moreso 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. The religion's association with illegal file sharing^[where?] has been said not to be a sign that illegal file-sharing will be excused from Sweden's zero-tolerance approach to the matter.^[1]

First wedding

On April 28th, 2012, the Missionary Church of Kopimism held their first wedding.^[10] The wedding took place in Belgrade, Serbia, between a Romanian woman and an Italian man. The holy ceremony was conducted by a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask whose voice was distorted by a voice modulator.
The church said, "We are very happy today. Love is all about sharing. A married couple share 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."
The missionary leader of the Church of Kopimism, Isak Gerson, attended as a witness during the wedding.

Sharing of information in religions

Further information: Sharing#In religions

See also

• Kopimi
• Anti-copyright
• File sharing
• Gift economy
• Information wants to be free
• List of new religious movements

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Sweden recognises new file-sharing religion Kopimism". BBC News. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
2. ^ ^{a b} Jackson, Nicholas (10 April 2011). "The Information Will Get Out: A New Religion for File-Sharers". The Atlantic. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
3. ^ "File-Sharers Await Official Recognition of New Religion". TorrentFreak. 10 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
4. ^ Citrome, Michael (14 April 2011). "NETWORTHY: Copy, paste, amen". Montreal Mirror. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
5. ^ "File-Sharing Recognized as Official Religion in Sweden". TorrentFreak. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
6. ^ Privitera, Salvatore. "File-sharing as a religion, do we really need it?". Retrieved 29 January 2012.
7. ^ Worman, Jenny (4 January 2012). "Sweden Recognizes File Sharing as a Religion". RevoluTimes. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
8. ^ "Welcome to the missionary church of kopimism". Retrieved 2 February 2012.
9. ^ "Kopimist Constitution". The First Church of Kopimism for the USA. 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
10. ^ "First Kopimist Wedding". 28 April 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.