Only in Sweden.
The country which gave the world the Pirate Bay and original Pirate Party, stored WikiLeaks data and took internet telephony mainstream (ie, Skype) has now officially recognised file-sharing as a religion.
Yes, the church of Kopimism has been recognised by the Swedish government.
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"Hopefully, this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution", said Isak Gerson, spiritual leader of the Church of Kopimism, in a statement on the group's website.
The 19 year-old philosophy student said that the act of copying information is a sacrament.
"Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organisation and its members"
While peer-to-peer filesharing technology has allowed millions across the world to share digital media (and deprived plenty of artists and their parent companies of income), the group takes it back a notch.
Their sacred symbols? CTRL+C and CTRL+V.
