The Swedish Pirate Party is to stand in this summer's European elections to battle for the freedom of information. It's one of a growing number of parties in Europe that believe private citizens should be able to download books or music for their own use.

The Swedish Pirate Party wants to fight for freedom of information. Restrictive rules for patents and copyrights result in the detrimental monitoring of citizens, warns to the Swedish Pirate Party, which is fielding 20 candidates in this summer's elections for the European Parliament.

"If the politicians want to prevent ordinary citizens from sharing films, music and other forms of culture, they have to constantly expand the ability to monitor -- because as soon as the authorities close down one culture-sharing facility, another pops up very quickly," says Christian Engström, who is the primary candidate for the party.