"Piratpartiet" (The Pirate Party) mainly got it's name from "Piratbyrån" (The Pirate Bureau), which was a think tank for information, culture, and intellectual property (and started TPB). They in turn took their name, tongue-in-cheek, from the lobby group "Antipiratbyrån" (The Anti-Piracy Bureau), which is similar to the MPAA or BSA. Also the modern definition of pirate is basically "doing something without a permit", as in pirate radio, pirate recording, pirate copy etc. This differs from the old definition which is "to attack" something.
Thanks for elaborating my point. I'd clearly got the exact lineage of the etymology wrong, but the "anti-pirate bureau" clearly got it's name from the criminal activity, thus the "pirate bureau", cleverness aside, got its name form the same source.
Yes, the modern meaning is probably "doing something without a permit", but in the sense where something is illegal without a permit.
