David Gerard wrote:
I mean in terms of what does and doesn't constitute political lobbying.
The Swedish chapter, where I'm a board member, is a Swedish membership organization and should have no formal problems with doing political lobbying. The bylaws state we cannot take sides with political parties ("partipolitiskt obunden" = we promise to remain independent of political parties), but we certainly can express our views on issues that relate to our mission, the promotion of free knowledge.
However, since new Swedish copyright legislation is introduced by directive from the European Commission, any successful lobbying would have to take place in Brussels and not in Stockholm. I know the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is active in Brussels, and cooperates with the Free Software Foundation-Europe (FSF-E). Rather than sending our own lobbyists to Brussels, perhaps it would be smarter to join their cause? Would that be a problem?