

UK Pirate Party registered as politcal party - tome
http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/blog/2009/aug/11/party-registered/

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jacquesm
I personally sympathize with most - but not all - points that the pirate
parties of Sweden and the UK make, but I can't help it that I think that the
name they've chosen ('pirate') is one of the worst names they could have
picked.

Traditionally politics is a game of words, if you enter the game with one leg
tied to the other it is not going to help at all.

Being a 'vertical' (single issue) is hard enough, to add a voluntary
stigmatization to that does not help.

Piracy is uniformly seen as negative, the 'opposition' (MPAA/RIAA) are the
real pirates here, but they actually get the moral high ground for free this
way.

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JonAtkinson
I agree with your point, but consider the 'Hacker' in 'Hacker News', that has
very negative connotations in mainstream language (thanks, media industry!),
but the type of smart, gets-things-done people who use this site can see
through the language at the values behind it.

Exactly the kind of smart, gets-things-done types who can make a difference in
politics, I'd imagine.

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tome
Yes, I imagine that the people who will vote for a party with the policies the
Pirate Party has will not be the ones who would be put off by "Pirate" in the
name.

~~~
michael_dorfman
But that's the question, isn't it? Could they attract more "mainstream" voters
if their rhetoric were not based upon preaching to the choir?

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tome
I doubt it. I think they just want to get enough votes to make the mainstream
sit up and listen.

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swombat
For what it's worth, I signed up, and registered as a member (that costs £10).
That's not only for the file-sharing aspects of things, but also some of their
other declared aims:

• End the excessive surveillance, profiling, tracking and monitoring of
innocent people by Government and big businesses.

• Ensure that everyone has real freedom of speech and real freedom to enjoy
and participate in our shared culture.

I whole-heartedly support those goals and am disgusted by the fact that the
"mainstream" parties don't even pay them lip service.

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jgrahamc
It's worth reading Richard Stallman's piece about how the Pirate Party's
position on copyright is damaging for the Free Software movement:
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/pirate-party.html>

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tome
Since the Pirate Party's proposals are never going to be enacted in law (or at
least not without allowing a great deal of time for various interest groups to
comment) I don't see that this will be a practical issue.

It is interesting, though, to read Stallman reiterating that copyleft depends
on strong copyright!

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tome
See also this Q&A:

[http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/interviews/350728/q-a-why-the-
uk...](http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/interviews/350728/q-a-why-the-uk-needs-the-
pirate-party)

~~~
philh
>Q How do you respond to the counter argument that research costs are huge and
patents help companies protect their investment?

>A We're not trying to stifle innovation, what we're trying to do is set a
legal framework that says 'okay, you can take a picture from the road, but
pointing a camera at my bedroom window, that's not such a good idea'. Google
Street View's a really good example of this. People were up in arms, saying
'no this shouldn't happen, yes it should happen'. We want to see laws in place
before it happens, rather than after, so everybody knows where they stand.

That doesn't answer the question at all. I hope this doesn't become a trend
with them.

~~~
_pi
They are politicians, nonanswers are part of the game.

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jgrahamc
It's sad that their FAQ only addresses the 'pirate' part of their name.
[http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Policies...](http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Policies_FAQ)

