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Pirate Party Comes to the U.S.

Spy der Mann writes "Wired news has published an interview with the Pirate Party of the U.S., which was formed a week after the raid on Pirate Bay. The group patterns itself after Piratpartiet, the Swedish political party associated with The Pirate Bay, and says it wants to reform intellectual property and privacy laws."

11 of 543 comments (clear)

  1. Avast! by Cleon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yarrrr!

    It be about time that someone be takin' up the mantle of IP reform and greater privacy! Fer sure, the twin armadas of the Republicrats and Democans have failed to take it on, and e'en the Libertarians and Greens don't talk too much about it.

    Avast, mateys! Perchance finally there be a Party worth votin' for.

    --
    Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
  2. Re:This is what we need, but named horribly by ABoerma · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Swedish party is named horribly as well, and they seem to be doing quite well.

  3. Actually... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Honestly, at this point, I *do* support piracy.

    After seeing how the Republicans are selling my ass out to the telecoms in the house*, I--someone who has been registered as a republican for as long as he could vote--am dumping that party until it comes to its senses.

    Keel haul the blaggards!

    * There are plenty of reasons to dump them, not just Net Neutrality. It's just that that's the absolute last straw. At this point, I feel like I'm throwing my vote away voting for either of the two main parties, anyhow so I might as well vote with someone I agree with...

  4. It's only futile because of you by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You, and people like you, saying it's "futile" and third party votes are "wasted" are the cause of the two party problem. You've helped brainwash the american voter into thinking it's a coin toss, and he should pick the "lesser of two evils".

    Then on election day, we see some bullshit like "49% people favor John Kerry and 51% people favor George Bush". Which we all know is wrong. Nearly everybody, in the last election, thought both candidates sucked.

    Vote for who you want to vote for. They may not win, but we won't be sending some assclown to the whitehouse with some bullshit "51% american support" argument. The next time the republicrats win, I want to see the number say "7%", followed by maybe Greens or Libertarians with 4% and 5% type numbers. I want the numbers to clearly demonstrate what the people want.

    If that were to happen, and the two parties will realize just how tenuous their connection to the voters are, and things will start to change.

    But instead, all of the apathetic slugs out there contribute the the problem by saying "I really like blah-blahs positions but I dont want to waste my vote so I dunno, Hillary Clinton I guess".

    Vote for the Pirate Party if you like them. They don't have to win to send a message.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  5. Re:Too bad it's futile by Ossifer · · Score: 4, Interesting
    With the election system of the US, it's always 2 parties with nobody having thet slightest chance to muscle in, at best in local elections (which, frankly, have no impact on copyright laws).
    It's even worse for single-issue parties. The design of the American democratic system essentially precludes these parties from gaining power--the lack of a proportional party-based legislature, and the lack of an excutive branch formed out of the legislature. The former situation requires a newcomer to win a substantial number of districts outright to have any real power, and the latter precludes a small number of legislators from such a single-issue party from wielding lynchpin power in forming governments.

    Compare this to say, Sweden, where you vote for parties, and any party garnering over 4% of the vote (country-wide) gets legislative representation, without having to have majority support in any region. Then, such a party can make demands upon the larger parties seeking their support in forming a government.

    I'm not advocating either form of democracy (I've seen the downside of both systems, having lived in both above-named countries), I personally dislike political parties and their influence. In fact the US constitution was intentionally crafted to prevent the influence of "factions" (source: The Federalist Papers), however futile this effort was...
  6. But wait ... there's more by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 4, Interesting
    You're right, and that's Moglen's reading, but I was encouraged to find this in the Eldred decision:

    "...when, as in this case, Congress has not altered the traditional contours of copyright protection, further First Amendment scrutiny is unnecessary."

    By implication, this means laws that do alter the "contours" can be challenged constitutionally. I'm thinking DMCA, esp. anticircumvention... which goes beyond the prohibition of copying and denies mere access to works, as pointed out in a good chapter of a very mediocre book: Protecting Ideas by David L. Hudson.

    --
    My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
  7. Census Bureau anyone? by tepples · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Perhaps new copyright legislation should define the "limited time" as one half of the total average lifespan of an American citizen, according to an unbiased source (where do we get this statistic now?).

    The US Census Bureau exists to implement the constitutional requirement for an enumeration. A hard limit of half a life expectancy would be easy to implement based on data that the Census Bureau and similar government agencies already publish. But then pegging the copyright term to the progress of medical arts it might make the copyright industry support the drug industry.

  8. Re:I'll have to look into a donation... by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 5, Interesting

    hey should rename themselves "The Entertainment Wants To Be Free Party,"

    Pirate Party rolls off the tongue - your name sucks. In today's media saturated world, that's important. I for one would love to be the first Pirate President.

    --
    "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
  9. Re:I'll have to look into a donation... by Chris+Pimlott · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Of course their name refers to copyright infringement! Of course they identifying with criminals! The whole point of the party "infringment" shouldn't be a crime. The whole point is disagree with the current laws regarding copyright and that a large portion of the general population be on the wrong side of legality because of it. The head of the Swedish Pirate Party, had a good response in a recent Wikinews interview:

    Oh, [piracy of software, movies, music, etc.] is a crime. That's the heart of the problem! The very problem is that something that 20% of the voters are doing is illegal by punishment of jail time. That's what we want to change. Where the established parties are saying that the voters are broken, we are saying it's the law that is broken.
  10. Re:It's in there. by ArsonSmith · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How about have it so copyright extention is paid for. You get your first 10 to 20 years as it is now, then you have to pay a renewal fee every say 3 to 5 years that doubles each time. Eventually it would become unprofitable to continue to pay the renewal and you'd have to release to the PD.

    --
    Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  11. Re:I'll have to look into a donation... by siriuskase · · Score: 4, Interesting

    First, we need to do something about how in the USA, it is almost impossible for a third, fourth, or fifth, not to mention more, party to win an election. When the Repulicrats talk about election reform, they talk about small tweaks that don't do much of anything useful. They stay from any fixes that give more than 2 parties a fighting chance. The Libertarians, Greens, Pirates, etc, don't have much in common except that they aren't electable under the current system. Everyone needs to get together with only one plank, to replace the current election system, then we can hold another election a month or two later. There are democratic governments all over the world we could study and emulate. I kinda like what they do in Australia - voting is mandatory for all citizens, but they have some really cool parties ye can choose as a protest or whatever.

    --
    If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest