Why the UK Needs the Pirate Party 363
Barence writes "The UK Pirate Party wants to reform copyright and patent laws, abolish the surveillance state and increase our freedom of speech, and it's just been recognized as a political party. In this interview with PC Pro, UK Pirate Party leader Andrew Robinson explains how he's planning to shake up the political landscape. 'What we really want to do is raise awareness, so that the other parties say "bloody hell, they've got seven million votes this time out," or one million votes, or enough votes to make them care and seriously think about these issues.'"
So, about that DMCA... (Score:5, Informative)
Raising awareness works - example Germany (Score:5, Informative)
In Germany, a recent poll [handelsblatt.com] showed a 2% support rate for the pirate party (Piratenpartei).
And lo and behold! Suddenly, politicians of other parties are discovering their love for the pirates' topics [heise.de]...
(links in German, and I'm too much a of a lazy ass to translate)
already working in germany (Score:4, Informative)
It's already working in germany.
The piratenpartei [piratenpartei.de] there got just approved to be part of national elections, which will take place in about 2 months in 15 states. After the german government had decided on a stupid domain-blocking scheme against (so they say) child porn, the piratenpartei got 0.7% at the european elections a short while ago.
The Spiegel [spiegel.de] (an important german weakly) and other media are reporting about the issue and discussion about regulation of the net is starting in the mainstream media and also within the various parties, forcing the parties to develop a clear position on things before election.
Up until recently the issue was not taken seriously by the german parties and security freaks like Wolfgang Schaeuble were allowed to install more and more legislation to control and observe citizens more closely and broadly (his party is actually using the following slogan in it's election campaign: "we're strong enough for both freedom _and_ security", which is of course bullshit, as we all know (Jefferson anyone)).
So yes, what the UK Pirate Party is trying to do is very much viable and makes sense. It'll raise awareness of the political cast to a problem unsolved and to the fact that people will not let their freedom be taken away so easily.
Re:ïI might vote for them, but it is futile (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So, about that DMCA... (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.pirate-party.us
Re:Raising awareness works - example Germany (Score:3, Informative)
It's worth pointing our that I mentioned 'seven million votes' in the context of government figures showing that there are seven million filesharers in the UK, it does make me seem wildly optimistic if it's taken out of context.
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:5, Informative)
There is a balance to be struck between extremism and populism. As party leader (yes, that's me being quoted in the article) I'll have an easier job of convincing sceptical voters and politicians that the current copyright term is too long than convincing them that copyright is unneccesary - and course my own view as a hobby musician is that copyright law is actually a good idea, it's jut the current lobbyist-driven draconian implmentation of it that's the problem. ... and now back to watching the server melt :-)
Re:A big undertaking (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Hardly, since the Pirate Party does not want copyright abolished, but reformed.
We want patents abolished, though.
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:5, Informative)
As party leader, I can promise you that our policies are not more extreme than publically stated, we are well aware that there needs to be balance in copyright law, and that artists need to be financially rewarded when their work is sold... of course even though I've only been a politician for a couple of days you might not trust me, so I'd invite you to head over to our forum and actually take part in our decision making processes. You will of course see views expressed that are both harder and softer than the party's official line, but I hope you'll also see that we are a rational, balanced group of people.
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:3, Informative)
Not the commercial copyright, but all non-commercial use is to be made legal from day one. That's pretty close to abolishing copyright for the masses, with the exception of a few moral rights. It'd make 99% of all file sharing legal, except those sharing really nasty stuff covered by other laws.
The reason for keeping some commercial copyright is simple - if you make money, the original author/artist/whatever should make money. Otherwise for example cinemas could earn money showing movies without paying those that made it anything. As reforms go, it's as big as they come.
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:4, Informative)
... and we're considering policy to protect FOSS because of that. We're aware of RMS's letter on it.
Canada - http://www.pirateparty.ca/ (Score:3, Informative)
Now for my personal vendetta
The Slashcode moderation system has created an enormously powerful and democratic forum for debate. While we have several issues to address one that's of interest is having a decentralized party where open debate is the norm and direct democracy the result.
To this end a modified version of Slashcode is being developed for the public forum.
If you decide to attend the meetings I'd appreciate it if you'd voice support for such a system, I think the idea of information freedom makes the notion of cabinets and party leaders slightly hypocritical, plus we don't need those things to get our message out.
Personally I am optimistic about the overall benefits of a small region where copyright and patents are abolished, this region would create integrated ideas that would be the wonder of the world demonstrating what mankind has accomplished. Black Government research projects probably already work this way, but it would be nice if we got some results for civilian use.