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Pirate Party Pillages Private Papers
David Crafti writes "Pirate Party Australia has made the move to host the recently leaked ACTA document in order to highlight the lack of government transparency in the negotiation process. We believe that the document is not under copyright, and we are not party to any NDAs, so there should be no restriction on us posting it. We would like to see what the government (any government) tries to do about it. If it turns out that there is some reason that we have to take it down, then we will, but if this happens, it will only validate the document's authenticity."
Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers.
That headline is a mouthful.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
They should read it into the record of any parliament that they have seats in -- legislators (at least in the US, and I assume other countries too) have immunity from arrest for speech made as part of their legislative business. If they desire to declassify this information, then doing it in a way that's clearly part of their legislative business is the best way to keep the information public.
We would like to see what the government (any government) tries to do about it. If it turns out that there is some reason that we have to take it down, then we will, but if this happens, it will only validate the document's authenticity.
We will post this to show what you guys are up to.
If you try to get it taken down, it shows everything in the documentis true and real.
That, my friends, is called a checkmate in my book.
I call it 'The Aristocrats'
The one issue that would make me vote for the Pirate Party when they come to my nation is that they platform on restoring an actual PUBLIC DOMAIN. None of this pretend public domain, if it doesn't expire in my lifetime there is no public domain - there is only lip-service. A period of say 20 years or so: imagine if you could go to any bittorrent site and download any movie, music, book, or software from 1990 or before? And that's not even whats important, whats important is derivative works: say a new movie based on Alien with actual alien characters, plot devices, and characters! These new works would then be eligible for their own copyright and with a well so deep to draw from you can imagine the explosion of works that would result from having a public domain! But of course, we have now, the content industry is hoarding every work to themselves in perpetuity stealing works that could have been right out from under our noses.
Shh.
They should replace that flag logo with a kangaroo wearing an eye patch. Maybe have a koala on its shoulder instead of a parrot.
"I'm not a quack, I'm a mad scientist! There's a difference." - Dr. Cockroach
In this parallel universe, the Pirates are the good guys!
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Countries are bound by an international treaty. shorting copyright is not an option.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works/Articles_1_to_21
article 7:
(1) The term of protection granted by this Convention shall be the life of the author and fifty years after his death. .... ....
(6) The countries of the Union may grant a term of protection in excess of those provided by the preceding paragraph
(7) Those countries of the Union bound by the Rome Act of this Convention which grant, in their national legislation in force at the time of signature of the present Act, shorter terms of protection than those provided for in the preceding paragraphs shall have the right to maintain such terms when ratifying or acceding to the present Act.
So by international treaty they can shorten the copyright to the length it was when signing the treaty, or lengthen it arbitrary, but no country can shorten it below the length set in the treaty.
A pirate party is free to discuss this issue, but is almost impossible to make this a law, unless there was a law before the countries signed the Berne convention that limited the length. The only way to do this is a trick: leave Berne convention, set a copyright of 5 years and then join again. I bet this is not a point a minority party can establish.
Who do you think gave them these documents eh? Right... nobody... nobody sees the Ninja!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Please, if you're an Australian citizen and are concerned at all about ACTA, the Australian internet filter, ridiculous software patents and Big Media's stranglehold on copyright laws then join the Pirate Party Australia!
They only need a few more members to be able to officially register as a political party and it's now FREE TO JOIN! Just print out the form, sign it, scan/photograph it, email it in and be part of the solution.
It has been in discussion for two years, isn't two years long enough?
Disagree != mod troll.
What sort of screwed up system would prevent discussion of something because it was amoung "issues currently up for debate"? Isn't the whole point of a debate to supposed to be to discuss something?
However, I wonder if parliamentary decorum doesn't traditionally restrict public discussion of issues currently up for debate...
I think I speak for the people when I say fuck decorum if it conflicts with public debate. It is The People who will be suffering the effects of these bad to-be-laws for the foreseeable future if they should be passed, and therefore it is the people who must be able to debate the issues. That which flourishes in the dark and cannot withstand the light of public scrutiny has no place in the institutions of men.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
that world governments can't seem to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, or end the diamond trade related genocides in Africa, but let big business whine about "potentially lost profits" and it's "World Leaders To The Rescue" Da.. Da.. DAAAA! Fucking disgusting. Let's hope ACTA turns out better for the little guy than the US's InuranceCompanyCareReformBill.
Why can't we go back to using jumpers to configure slot adapter cards? Why? I say!
The Pirate Party is platforming on reducing excessive copyright terms. A quick Google search: shows depending on the country of operation values such as 5 and 10 years. I think those are too low, I think a minimum should be 14 years as that was good enough when distribution was primitive and I think with negotiation the magic number should fall between 15-20 years. The Pirate Party is not against copyrights, they are against excessive copyrights.
Shh.
Seeing as those involved with ACTA don't exactly have too much credibility in the eye of the public, how are they to "prove" the document has been doctored without releasing their original copy? Even better is the fact that those involved with ACTA could simply change it and re-release it themselves, claiming that this new "people-friendly" version is the true original. Since there's no effective time stamp as the original document was never released, the only credible source appears to be those that went out of their way to leak the document in the first place. Check!
You're wrong! It's pretty safe to join, without making civilisation collapse.
From the Aussie Pirate Party FAQ:
What are your main policy areas?
We aim to protect civil liberties and promote culture and innovation, primarily through... [various free speech, privacy and anti-censorship issues... ], and
* Reforming the life + 70 years copyright length
* Decriminalisation of non-commercial copyright infringement
Do you support abolishing intellectual property entirely?
No. We believe that the original goals of intellectual property protections, which are to promote creativity and invention, are reasonable. We don't believe that prosecuting non-commercial file sharers for copying a song from the 1940s is reasonable, however.
Do you think that commercial copyright infringement or patent infringement is ok?
No. Our position is that companies should pay for the use of copyrighted works and patented designs.
Paul "Say no to feeping creaturism"