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.'"
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
It have worked quite well here in Sweden, the pirate party have woken up the other parties when polls started to show that they might even get into the Riksdag ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden#Modern_political_system [wikipedia.org] )
Re:Mod parent up (Score:3, Interesting)
Very few people want "no copyright" but an awful lot of them want "less government"
Well said; we're getting to a point that 'piracy' is an inevitability...music, video, etc, is GOING to be shared, and the way interpretation of copyright law is going these days, any victory for the Industries gets one step closer to extreme government oversight and penalisation for things that, ultimately, end up being relatively minor. Copyright laws, as originally written and intended, were to prevent someone from taking the printed words or phonographed music of one person, and claiming it as their own, to make it a profit. It's been bastardized to excess now, though, and even though we've seen suit after complaint after appeal after suit on the whole subject, not a thing with copyright law or dealings related to infringement has seemingly changed EXCEPT to favour the Industries with increased prying by the lawyers with Government OK's in doing so.
In the end, it's a hopeless endeavor, make token efforts to put in limitations on physical media, and when they get cracked, take some solace in the fact that records are still being sold (or downloaded from iTunes), and that people will still flock to a movie theatre (probably for the popcorn)..
Re:ïI might vote for them, but it is futile (Score:3, Interesting)
There is another method for change. The major parties instinctively chase votes, so it's possible to get them to alter course by showing them that there are votes to be gained by changing what are (to them) a few minor policies in obscure areas. You didn't really think their focus on environmental issues would have happened naturally without the spectre of a successful green party in the wings do you?
I think the 'endgame' for the Pirate Party UK will be to see the reforms we want enacted not because we stand a chance of winning, but because the party in power is willing to pass them in order to make us go away, which is one very good reason for us having a small manifesto that concentrates on a few areas that are important to us.
Re:Need yes, Succes? (Score:5, Interesting)
If they get a few million votes and steadily increase share every election, even if they don't win the bigger parties might decide to adjust their policies a bit.
A lot of people say it's just a two horse race because of the "first past the post" system. Big fucking deal. That doesn't matter as long as you can influence the direction the horses are heading.
Fact is the big parties have changed over the years, so they can and do change.
If you keep voting for a party that you don't like, it's effectively saying to them "keep doing whatever you are doing". Why should they change if they keep winning most of the votes?
If they see their grip loosening, believe me, they'll do something.
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
and the economy will falter again.
Copyright (and other IP forms) are functionally equivalent to a form of taxation. It's transfer of money from one sector of the economy to another, and as such it does not affect the strength of the economy outside its comparative efficiency at generating value for the spent resources.
Perhaps you wish to claim that the copyright industries are extremely efficient at generating value for their consumers, much more than the value the consumer would have gotten from the alternate products he would have bought for those funds, but frankly, most breakdowns of where the money goes indicate otherwise. Which would suggest that copyright damages the wealth generation of an economy as a whole.
And of course, compared to a really optimized system of IP creation without monopoly effects and middleman funding, the economic outcome if utterly atrocious.
SNP are in charge in Scotland.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Agreed that most of the power in *England* is in a two party system but in Scotland and Wales the devolved system means that other parties get a good shout, and have some power as a result. The SNP runs the Scottish parliament for example. There are signficant local difference between English and Scottish legal situations and the SNP / Labour divide on political issues means that people in England and Scotland can be in quite different situations (e.g. healthcare).
Re:Single Issue Parties Get Nowhere (Score:2, Interesting)
It sounds like the bunch are yet another single issue party. Single issue parties get nowhere.
Actually that's not quite true. While many single issue parties vanish as fast as they came, the greens here in Germany started as a single issue party, and now get over 10% in elections. OTOH, they aren't a single issue party anymore.
But I believe it will be the same with the pirate party. Limiting themself to their "core competencies" at first, then with gaining experts for other areas slowly expanding to these areas.
Re:ïI might vote for them, but it is futile (Score:3, Interesting)
(Firstly, this post was direct at me and I don't consider it flambait, so I can't see why moderators do)
No, I don't write to my MP, because unless the envelope is stuffed full of £50 notes they will ignore me (or, at the very most, send me a letter full of promises and platitudes so they don't lose my vote, and then ignore me)
I am registered to vote, but I consider it largely a futile ritual. My vote has never had any chance of changing the balance of power because I've always lived in safe seats.
no2id is a worthy cause but a hopeless one. The interests which run government require that government exercise control and therefore no2id is running up against money and will fail.
I don't know where you get the idea I'm a Mail reader from. Completely the opposite in fact.
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Sweedish pirate party is not unreasonable or extremist. They will abolish patents completely and make private filesharing legal, but they will maintain a 5 year copyright term for commercial usage. Seems reasonable enough to me.
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Need yes, Succes? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, but the question is how to work for change. Sometimes non-participation is better than implicitly consenting to be part of a system.
Not that I'm advocating it here. I normally would have said that a pirate party has no chance of making a dent, but it's working in sweden/europe, and many interested people in the UK know that. The UKPP already has a 1000+ followers on facebook alone. Looks like a good start.
Re:Sounds promising, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes. Much like the way to get proprietary vendors to support open platforms and protocols is to launch a Free Software organisation, build an OS, popularise a Free license, etc. To some, it's extreme. To others, it's just the extreme balance to an extreme position taken by others.
Forward Thinkers can Still Miss the Obvious (Score:2, Interesting)
Something they might want to include in their plans: What if They WIN an election?
As shown by the NDP Party once in the province of Ontario, when the much touted and over-confident Liberals called an election, the NDP was caught flat-footed by their victory, and had to scramble a great deal to actually fill the position of the Governing Body!
Sobering idea, isn't it? To find the regular, 'shoe-in' parties so unpopular that the Protest Vote party actually gets in... It's not unheard of!
Not that it should take entirely too much planing on their part. Even if the plan is to hold the office for a token period, then call a fresh election, it's worth the effort.