tagged w/ Pirate Party
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In this Battle of Ideas satellite rumble, while some have celebrated the apparent radicalisation of previously apathetic youth, speakers express profound concern over its 'empty politics', contempt for the masses, leaderless-ness and narcissism. The rise of the far right in Europe is a further worry, but it can, we learn, be used to justify anti-democratic trends. These edited highlights are certainly compelling. Are there no promising political movements to inspire us? Your thoughts please.In this Battle of Ideas satellite rumble, while some have celebrated the apparent... more
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There has been a long-term trend of disengagement and apathy with respect to the EU so what does the recent emergence of new social movements – the Indignados, Occupy, the Pirate Party, to name a few –represent? Is there a chance that the people could be about to forge a new European demos? A striking line up of panellists in this debate think not, and challenge us to consider what that might involve. Are they right?There has been a long-term trend of disengagement and apathy with respect to the EU so... more
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Rick Falkvinge
Political evangelist
In 2006, Rick Falkvinge, a Swedish software entrepreneur, founded a new political party centred around the subjects of file sharing, copyright and patents. He called it the Pirate Party and it rose to prominence after a government crackdown on the file-sharing site, the Pirate Bay. Since then, the Pirate Party has swept Europe and beyond to become an international political movement, active in 40 different countries with representation in the European parliament.
In Sweden, it's the largest party for voters under the age of 30 with 25% of the vote, and in September 2011, the German Pirate Party won an unprecedented 8.9 per cent of the vote and now has several members in the Berlin state parliament. Focused on the subjects of government transparency, internet privacy and copyright law, the Pirate Party hosts Wikileaks on its servers and uses new technology to leverage political power in new and interesting ways. In 2011, Foreign Policy magazine called Falkvinge one of the top 100 global thinkers.Rick Falkvinge
Political evangelist
In 2006, Rick Falkvinge, a Swedish software... more
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Tunisian bloggers succeeded in getting permission to form the first anti-censorship party in Africa and the Arab world. ----- The Tunisian interior ministry just legalised Africa's first anti-censorship political party. The Tunisian Pirate Party, approved on March 13th, is a branch of the worldwide cyber-activist movement. The party consists mainly of bloggers, many of whom were active during the Tunisian revolution and were imprisoned under the former regime. Their goal is to protect the right of more than two million Tunisian internet users to access information without restrictions, according to the party statute. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/free-stuff/43057-tunisian-pirate-party-gets-legal-approvalTunisian bloggers succeeded in getting permission to form the first anti-censorship... more
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worrg
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1 year ago
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Good News, Everyone! Yesterday, there were local elections in the German country of Niedersachsen, and 59 (fifty-nine) seats were captured by the German Piratenpartei. This is a terrific result — the German Piratenpartei is on a roll right now. Next weekend, on the elections this coming Sunday, we expect the Piratenpartei to take seats in the Parliament in Berlin. It is absolutely amazing that we are taking the political jobs of those who are defending monopolies, locked-down culture and knowledge, and the erosion of civil liberties all over Europe at this rate. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/free-stuff/43006-german-piratenpartei-in-the-parliamentGood News, Everyone! Yesterday, there were local elections in the German country of... more
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worrg
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1 year ago
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A 27-year-old candidate in the competitive riding of Kitchener-Waterloo had just finished his first media interview as a politician inside a popular coffee shop between two universities, delivering a bravura performance.A 27-year-old candidate in the competitive riding of Kitchener-Waterloo had just... more
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The team behind the popular torrent site The Pirate Bay has started to work on a new encryption technology that could potentially protect all Internet traffic from prying eyes. The project, which is still in its initial stages, goes by the name “Transparent end-to-end encryption for the Internets,” or IPETEE for short. It tackles encryption not on the application level, but on the network level, the aim being that all data exchanged on your PC would be encrypted, regardless of its nature — be it a web browser streaming video files or an instant messaging client. As Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij (a.k.a. Tiamo) told me, “Even applications that don’t supporting encryption will be encrypted where possible.”
Neij came up with the idea for IPETEE back when European politicians were starting to debate a Europe-wide move to DMCA-like copyright enforcement efforts, which were eventually authorized in the form of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive in the spring of 2007. “I wanted to come up with something to make it harder for data retention,” said Neij. But he didn’t publish the initial draft proposal until early this month, when the discussion about privacy and surveillance online suddenly became urgent again. The Swedish parliament passed a new law in June that allows a local government agency to snoop on “the telephony, emails, and web traffic of millions of innocent individuals,” as the EFF’s Danny O’Brien put it. Neij promises that his new encryption scheme will be ready before the law takes effect next January.
IPETEE will likely be implemented as an add-on to operating systems like Windows and OS X. It will essentially do its work in the background, handling all incoming and outgoing IP traffic without any further interference from the user.
(M.A.L.)The team behind the popular torrent site The Pirate Bay has started to work on a new... more
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Official Website: http://pirate-party.us/
The US Pirate Party was formed in 2006 and they are currently trying to get enough signatures so they can be officially registered in the United States. The party currently has two city council seats in Germany, two members of the MEP in Sweden, and one city council seat in Switzerland.
Here is their platform
Abolition of the DMCA and Related Subsequent Provisions within Copyright Law
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) provided for legal repercussions for circumvention of copy protection, as well as making backup copies of any media illegal. This act has resulted in the intimidation, prosecution, and/or conviction of tens of thousands of people in our country--people who are otherwise law-abiding and who are not interested in being labeled thieves or crooks for doing what the internet was intended to do: share ideas. This is therefore a First Amendment issue, being freedom of expression, and we call for a repeal of this highly illogical and vertically-oriented law on the grounds that it is simply a bad law.
Rejection of the Concept of Online Piracy
The idea that sharing anything online is piracy is absurd on its face. Actual piracy requires forceful and aggressive acts, committed against those who would keep a cargo safe from harm. The cargo in this case is the freedom to act. We would take it from those who jealously guard it for themselves and divide it amongst everyone in the country.
The Pirate Party wants to "raid" the law and "carry away" (repeal) laws which do not serve those on our boat. The trick of it is: we're all in the same boat. It is in service to those on our boat (the United States) that we aim to help.
We are not willing to accept that file sharing should be banned (and will take steps--once we have party members in office--to ensure that any laws in this regard are adamantly opposed, since technology isn't the problem, but rather education about what its proper use is). On the other hand, we do agree that there is a significant amount of wrong being done to our rights in the name of protecting those whose sole aim for over 50 years has been the control and manipulation of human minds. Brainwashing our population is against our national interest in maintaining a democracy.
Patent Reform
Patent is abused extensively around the world, has become the chief legal means to suppress innovation, and is largely to blame for stymieing technological progress. The practice of shelving a patent (failing to develop a patented idea which competes with one's own ideas instead of developing both and allowing innovation to spring from them) is abhorrent, and needs to be curtailed within the law. Patents which fail to be developed or have significant progress in any four-year term should be unenforceable.
Copyright Reform
Copyright is flagrantly abused around the world, has an unreasonable term length, and is used to prevent, rather than promote, innovation. This is directly counter to its stated intent in the beginning, of protecting authors' works. Additionally, the right of use should never be in question; merely the right to be credited. The term should be reverted to the original length of 14 years at most.
Trademark Reform
Trademarks are abused around the world, in that they contain elements which are protected by either copyright or patent. A single protection for trademarks should exist, and fair use provisions made as with copyright. Trademarks should also not appear as the central issue on any dispute not arising from fraud.
Right to Free Press
Speech is protected under our Constitution, even unpopular speech, though action carries with it consequences. However, recent erosion of the First Amendment by inattentive lawmakers has led to a suppressive ideology that endangers journalistic freedoms (a necessary freedom in order to keep governments, political parties, and every other organization honest).
Underscored by recent events in St. Paul, reporters who are arrested by mistake for being in an area to report the news should have all charges summarily dismissed unless they were in fact doing damage or harm. This should be a standing policy in all city governments. Reporters form a necessary part of our government process, in bringing truth to the public.
News agencies which seek to misreport the news cannot be trusted to serve the best interests of the people, but there is a difference between news and entertainment. News agencies should have the freedom to decide which is which. However, news agencies should also be restricted from becoming the mouthpieces of special interest.
One of the major issues is the limitation of small media outlets. Big media should not control 80% of the market; there should be a limit to the amount of the market that large networks control in any area.
Right to Peaceful Assembly
Peaceful assembly is guaranteed by our Constitutional First Amendment, just as free speech and free press is. Permits to protest should only be necessary if protests are planning to be disruptive (marching down streets, etc.). Police should not have a right to--though they are currently not prohibited from--disrupting the exercise of the expression of unpopular free speech.
This also covers community organization, where the political and other needs of a community sometimes requires localized political activism. People need to be able to know that what they believe can be supported; and they need to know that what they believe can be correct--or corrected.
Right to Privacy
Regulatory bodies are by their very nature governing. They should therefore be prohibited from interfering in a person's private affairs. However, people should remember that their private affairs should remain private. Passwords, encryption, and other forms of electronic privacy should be afforded the same privileges as sealed envelopes.
Right to Government Transparency
The population should at all times understand what a governing body is doing, with or to whom it is doing these things, and for what reasons. Though there is a need for national security for so long as there are enemies outside of our borders, there should never be any issue with ordinary citizens who need information. Likewise, the responsibility of citizens is to ensure that information which is of a sensitive nature is handled in a sensitive manner, so that it does not fall into the hands of those who would misuse such information to harm human life.
Abolition of Digital Rights Management
The only thing that Digital Rights Management (DRM) and similar schemes do are to encourage people to find ways to prevent loss by circumvention. DRM is the key issue in the DMCA, and the chief reason that our population is now breaking the law en masse. DRM itself also inhibits the rights of artists to have their works experienced in as close to a live act as possible.Official Website: http://pirate-party.us/
The US Pirate Party was formed in 2006... more
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With the Lisbon Treaty being signed by all European Union member states, the Pirate Party has gained another seat in the European Parliament. The second Pirate Party seat will be occupied by the 22 year old Amelia Andersdotter, who will become the youngest Member of the European Parliament.
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-gets-second-seat-in-european-parliament-091104/With the Lisbon Treaty being signed by all European Union member states, the Pirate... more
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Herbert Rusche, the co-founder of the German Green Party and former member of the German Parliament, has joined the Pirate Party. Rusche praises the party for its open structure and its efforts to protect people’s privacy and fundamental rights. Those issues, he says, are the ones established parties fail to address.Herbert Rusche, the co-founder of the German Green Party and former member of the... more
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With Labour, Lib Dems and the Tories all looking like a bunch a lying sods it sems there is now room for more diverse political parties in the UK system.
So last month the UK Pirate Party was launched and it seems it has been more popular than even the party leader thought it might be:
"Andrew Peter Robinson, party leader, told The Register: "It has exceeded all expectations. Put it this way, donations have been coming in so fast that PayPal were concerned we were a fraudulent site." Robinson said it was hard to keep up with interest but about 100 people an hour were joining the party.
Robinson said: "The party was born of the feeling at the last European elections that there was no one to vote for and a group of us were jealous of people in Sweden who could vote for the Pirate Party." There is no organisational link, or funding, between the two groups although they do talk through the Pirate Party International site."
IF the BNP and Monster Raving Loonie Party can win seats then I see no logical reason why the pirate party can't. I know where my vote is going next year..........With Labour, Lib Dems and the Tories all looking like a bunch a lying sods it sems... more
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JClem
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added this
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3 years ago
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The UK Pirate Party has been officially registered at the Electoral Commission and is hoping to follow in the footsteps of its successful counterpart in Sweden. With all the recent controversy surrounding anti-piracy legislation and lawyers going after alleged file-sharers, the party has become necessity.The UK Pirate Party has been officially registered at the Electoral Commission and is... more
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Newsnight's Matt Prodger visits Sweden's Peace and Love music festival in Borlange to investigate what it is about the Swedes that has put them at the heart of a raging debate about internet freedom.
For 24-hour party people a visit to the land of the midnight sun is a must. For one thing, the Swedes are serious when it comes to having fun - and at this time of year the sun never sets.Newsnight's Matt Prodger visits Sweden's Peace and Love music festival in... more
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Just two weeks after the Swedish Pirate Party won a seat in the European Parliament, the German PiratenPartei has gained a seat in the German government. Jörg Tauss has left the Social Democrats Party (SPD) and has joined the Pirate Party.Just two weeks after the Swedish Pirate Party won a seat in the European Parliament,... more
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Ivor Tossel of the Globe & Mail interviews newest European Parliament member, and Chairman of the Pirate party about his victory, party policy, and party direction.
A very cool read (& listen) for those who are still somewhat unclear of the party's intentions.Ivor Tossel of the Globe & Mail interviews newest European Parliament member, and... more
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The Pirate Party has won a huge victory in the Swedish elections and is marching on to Brussels. After months of campaigning against well established parties, the Pirate Party has gathered enough votes to be guaranteed a seat in the European Parliament.The Pirate Party has won a huge victory in the Swedish elections and is marching on to... more
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The Pirate Bay verdict is being criticized by the Swedish public and protests are being planned. Opposition to the decision is widespread, indicated partly by the surge in new memberships to Sweden’s Pirate Party. It has seen its ranks grow by 20% in the handful of hours since the verdict and the number of members is increasing by the minute.
Support for the Swedish Pirate Party grew increasingly healthy after the government came up with more stringent copyright legislation. Its membership has surpassed that of the well established Green Party, and more than half of all Swedish men under 30 are considering pledging their vote to the Pirate Party in the upcoming 2009 European Parliament elections.
Today’s verdict in the Pirate Bay case only strengthens support for the site. Many people have been blown away by the harsh sentences and will protest in the streets of Stockholm tomorrow.
The upside seems to be that people have realized that the current climate needs to change, indicated by the Swedish Pirate party gaining many new members. Over the past few hours over 3000 members applied, raising the member count from less than 15,000 up to more than 18,000.The Pirate Bay verdict is being criticized by the Swedish public and protests are... more
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The pirates will be touring in an old bus they bought and prepared for their trip road trip through Europe. After several days of preparation in Stockholm, the bus stops tonight, July 10th, in Malmö, where the Pirate Bay and the Bureau of Piracy have declared “mixtape amnesty”.
They invite everyone who’s ever stared at the torrent clients’ speed graph, cursed Kazaa, carried a hard drive to a friend or made a copy of their mother’s cookie recipe to join them, as long as you bring drinks, your mixtapes and at least two peers.
The bus will then move on this Friday and reach its second stop, Berlin, the next day. After Berlin, the Pirate Bay and the Bureau of Piracy will set course to their final destination, Bolzano, where they will be participating in the Manifesta7 art event.The pirates will be touring in an old bus they bought and prepared for their trip road... more
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While the Pirate Party might be well known in Sweden, and heard of elsewhere around Europe, it’s not really taken off in the country that prides itself as being ‘the land of the free’. Unperturbed, the US Pirate Party has soldiered on and with the preliminary release of data from it’s first study, it’s hitting back at the media lobbyists.
Claims by the music or film industries that ‘piracy is costing billions’ are commonplace. In 2005, for instance, the MPAA funded the LEK study, which claimed that over $6 billion was lost to MPAA members due to piracy. However, the figures and data behind those claims have never been publicly released, a fact underscored this past January when the MPAA had to release a statement saying ‘they made a mistake’ in one of the figures. It’s a figure that’s been quoted a lot, to this day, and was something that rankled US Pirate Party Administrator, Andrew Norton.
“I was tired of seeing those claims on every press release,” he tells TorrentFreak, “knowing there was no evidence to back them up. They could have said that the loss was $20 billion, if they think they could bluff it out. The sad fact is that we have news outlets, and politicians quoting this figure as fact, and yet not one verified any claim. If I said I could turn lead into gold, I would be bombarded with requests to prove it. They have turned air into $6billion, and supposedly smart people accept it without question.”
Frustrated, Norton decided he should study the MPAA’s own figures. When he couldn’t find any data to support their claims, he decided that there needed to be a study of the data the MPAA did put out. “I was thinking about where I could look, when the MPAA announced a new record year, and I thought ‘of course’. The MPAA can hardly question the accuracy of the data published by its members, and itself.”
The preliminary findings of the study, published today, show a different picture to the one the MPAA paints. Norton took the view that the films most likely to be distributed on filesharing networks, and sold on street corners, would be the big blockbuster films, and so he should look at the top 10 films of each year.
With average growth throughout the time period, it would seem that claims of cinema piracy hurting box office figures (leading to cinemas issuing night vision goggles to staff, and teenagers being charged with crimes for recording 20-second clips) are unfounded. When certain p2p protocol lifespans are marked on the graph, for comparison, the MPAA claims are all but shattered.
Mr. Norton is also aware that he will have to prove he is not just making things up. The US Pirate Party, who is publishing the study, has stated that all data used in the study will be available when the full study will published at the end of July. He does have a comment for the MPAA however. “Prove your claims, or shut up about them.”
While the Pirate Party might be well known in Sweden, and heard of elsewhere... more
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