NZ Pirate Party Takes Issue With Pro-Trans-Pacific Partnership Website

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NZ Pirate Party Takes Issue With Pro-Trans-Pacific Partnership Website

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday December 5, 2012 @02:15AM from the they-were-asking-for-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Pirate Party of New Zealand has issued a strongly-worded (yet satirical) press release, decrying a recently-launched pro Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) website, stating, among other things: 'The use of a masted sailing ship is the most glaring example of the satirical nature of this website and one of our main grounds for offence. The Pirate Ship and all its related depictions are clearly intellectual property of the Pirate Party or at least if not the Party then The Pirate Bay which the Party shares a mutual affinity with for a free and open Internet. In these heady days of lawsuits over patents for rounded corners we can not stand by on the decks of the Internet and allow these cannon shots to go unanswered!'"

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Ahh yes by JustAnotherIdiot · 2012-12-05 02:26 · Score: 1

I needed a good laugh this morning, thank you /.

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What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
1. Re:Ahh yes by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 02:40 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, its always fun to laugh at kiwis. Now if they knwo whats good for them they'll get back to herding their succulant lambs.
2. Re:Ahh yes by collet · 2012-12-05 08:32 · Score: 1
  
  Hey, we can make really crappy music too! And we let you in to shoot movies!
Re:What's good for the Goose is good for the Gande by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 02:31 · Score: 0

I think you need to get your sarcasm-detector adjusted.
Re:What's good for the Goose is good for the Gande by cgimusic · 2012-12-05 03:00 · Score: 2

It does even say in the summary that it is satirical. I think Vortex needs to get his sarcasm detector completely replaced.
Re:What's good for the Goose is good for the Gande by JosKarith · 2012-12-05 03:04 · Score: 1

Whooooosh!

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Humor is lost on some folks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 03:04 · Score: 1

I read the article, looked at the site and all I saw was good natured humor, not serious complaints or actions.
1. Re:Humor is lost on some folks by Internetuser1248 · 2012-12-05 12:48 · Score: 2
  
  There are however serious complaints and actions. The Mana party are a bit more serious about it. Not that the NZPP aren't seriously against this agreement, their satire seems to have at least achieved coverage here, The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement has many of the hallmarks of the various copyright agreements slashdot has been fervently against in the past, such as being negotiated in secret and without consultation or representation. The treaty is much more far reaching in it's consequences than the ACTA treaty and it's brethren however. We are not even sure whether or not there are copyright and internet clauses in the TPPA, but I would be surprised if there aren't. What it basically amounts to is selling the country off.
  
  I think we should at least be doing an auction to ensure we get the right price, so anyone here that is interested: For sale, one country, nearly new. Docile population. Good Climate. Near the beach. Item sold 'as is', may have pockets of democracy, ownership disputed. Bidding starts at one handful of peanuts.
Re:What's good for the Goose is good for the Gande by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 03:05 · Score: 0

Your cortex has been sucked in by the vortex of the summary ....... these fuckers that can't find humour in a political party press release are just being morons now.
Oh and if you did read the article and still don't understand .. PP of NZ is using humour to metaphorically hoist the TPP and it's supporters and the TPP on the petard of the arguments against information sharing.
Re:What's good for the Goose is good for the Gande by Hatta · 2012-12-05 03:13 · Score: 4, Insightful

Their stance is that every copyright or trademark claim is as ridiculous as the satirical claim they make in this article.

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They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by gstoddart · 2012-12-05 03:16 · Score: 1, Insightful

It's reasons like this why the various Pirate parties will mostly always not be taken seriously. It's like they do silly things for fun and then expect people to act like they should be treated as a real political party.
I was at the grocery store a while back during an election, and there were two people there dressed in full pirate gear handing out their leaflets. Initially I thought it was a product promotion.
They might as well be the Insane Clown Posse Party if they're just there to do stupid things. I'm not voting for some guy in a pirate outfit.

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Lost at C:>. Found at C.
1. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 03:49 · Score: 0
  
  I go a step further: I also refuse to read books which have uninteresting covers.
2. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by loneDreamer · 2012-12-05 04:00 · Score: 2
  
  Because god forbid we find something as human as humor in politicians? I mean, I for one would welcome any humane trait in politics whatsoever!
3. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by pantaril · 2012-12-05 04:21 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not voting for some guy in a pirate outfit.
  I'll never understand your mindset. Why is image so important for you?
  You are basically saying, that if you had to choose between a honest guy in pirate outfit and corrupted crook in expensive suit with good image in mainstream media, you'd choose the later.
4. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by ryzvonusef · 2012-12-05 05:08 · Score: 2
  
  But you would be willing to vote for someone with less integrity, albeit one wearing a sharp suit?
  
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5. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by gstoddart · 2012-12-05 05:12 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  You are basically saying, that if you had to choose between a honest guy in pirate outfit and corrupted crook in expensive suit with good image in mainstream media, you'd choose the later.
  No, I'm saying it's awfully difficult to take someone seriously when they're wearing a tri-point hat and an eye patch who is asking for my vote.
  And if I know who the Pirate Party is and what they stand for and think this, then there's going to be an awful lot of people who just see these people as clowns.
  Issuing a press release about someone else using the image of a sailing ship infringing on your rights -- well, that's the kind of thing that just cements the idea that if they don't seem to be taking it seriously, why should we take them seriously?
  
  --
  Lost at C:>. Found at C.
6. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by gstoddart · 2012-12-05 05:20 · Score: 0
  
  But you would be willing to vote for someone with less integrity, albeit one wearing a sharp suit?
  Not on the basis of a sharp suit. But the guy standing outside the grocery store in a pirate suit doesn't immediately make me think "now there's a man I want to represent me".
  And the specific issue in TFA about them kvetching about someone using the logo of a sailing vessel? It's a childish, silly publicity stunt that doesn't change my opinion of them -- it makes it seem like one of those farcical parties instead of someone who is trying to actually do something.
  This is coming from a geek who is aware of what they're trying to do -- many other people are going to discount them as cranks and loons right off the bat. And if you're causing people to think like that, you're mostly hurting your own self.
  You may like to believe that people won't judge them based on what they wear and some of the silly things they do -- but you'd be horribly wrong. Because it seriously detracts from being able to get to the meat of what they're trying to say.
  
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  Lost at C:>. Found at C.
7. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 06:08 · Score: 0
  
  As oppossed to someone in a monkey suit, sporting a completely fake smile ?
  Or a green politician participating in cycling just to show how healthy he is ?
  Politicians will always go to extreme measures to get votes. That's why they are politicians. How that will look like, merely depends on the intended audience ( he usually just laughs as it ).
8. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 07:08 · Score: 0
  
  "But the guy standing outside the grocery store in a pirate suit doesn't immediately make me think "now there's a man I want to represent me"."
  Okay, so it is not the sharp suit. But that doesn't answer the question. Could you please enlighten us how a person should look for you to immediately think "now there's a man I want to represent me".
  Then you suggest we should care about peoples opinion when they judge things by appearance? How would that work? Could you post a picture of yourself so that we can see if we agree with you?
9. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by Paran · 2012-12-05 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  Issuing a press release to prove a point is "bad" now?
10. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by rioki · 2012-12-06 22:09 · Score: 1
  
  Well if it worked for the greens in the 90s, it should work for pirate party... at least here in Germany.
11. Re:They'll always be perceived as cranks ... by rioki · 2012-12-06 22:12 · Score: 1
  
  like a green politician that has a "hazmat" suit on and demonstrates at an anti nuclear rally... now THAT is something totally different... these are serious issues!
Caveat Piratae! The problem with irony and satire by Mister+Liberty · 2012-12-05 04:19 · Score: 1

is that a certain percentage of us don't grasp it.
Re:What's good for the Goose is good for the Gande by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-12-05 04:46 · Score: 1, Flamebait

I like FREE TRADE!
No specifics here, please! Give me broad characterizations, and influencing rhetoric, divorced from their binding policy constraints.
Just... well... "FREE TRADE"! You know! Like Columbus enjoyed in Hispanola! Like Pizarro pioneered in Peru, and let's not forget the British East India Company!
I don't know why the Pirate Party doesn't bow before the real pirates.

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"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Republicans in the U.S.A. ... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 04:52 · Score: 0

Mitt wanted to use the logo, too and received the same letter from The Pirate Party of New Zealand.
He would have won if he was able to use it in his campaign!
Free Traitors by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2012-12-05 07:27 · Score: 1

Here are the gentlemen advocating "Free Trade" agenda:
http://truthsite.org/images/UnderControl

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"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
It's a Brigantine! by edibobb · 2012-12-05 07:30 · Score: 1

Are they daft, man? That's a two-masted Brigantine, which is clearly not a sailing ship (at least to us purists). Piratebay, on the other hand, has a true sailing ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_ship
1. Re:It's a Brigantine! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 17:57 · Score: 0
  
  Actually the ship on the site in question isn't flying a flag and suggests there is no flag state. Since that is of course common knowledge it does allow the viewer to naturally conclude it is an outlaw vessel of some kind! (See: Pirate)
"Pro-Trans-Pacific" Partnership Website by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-05 08:35 · Score: 0

Check your privilege, cis scum.