Rights: a balancing act
I believe I am right. For the time being at least, I believe that what I stand for — intellectual property reform, privacy, transparency, civil liberties – is worth standing for. I am fully prepared to accept that I might actually be wrong about some of it. Maybe copyright is just fine as it is, maybe law enforcement agencies do need blanket data retention, and maybe government does need to keep secrets. But, from available evidence, I don’t think I am wrong.
When I look at the other side of these debates, at various industry and law enforcement groups, I see a lot of rhetoric, sensationalism, hyperbole and manipulation. A very simplistic example is the slogan “home taping is killing music,” circulated by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in the 1980s. This is very easily ridiculed with the argument that music has survived pretty healthily over the past million or so years without copyright.
However, it is quite easy to fall into the same trap of using those tactics, perhaps unknowingly, yourself. Mike Masnick’s “The Sky’s the Limit” report, for example, has been criticised, and quite frankly for good reason. I wouldn’t trust a report sponsored by an industry organisation whose members would directly benefit from a reduction in copyright regulations to be unbiased. It is for such reasons that I have pushed for strict guidelines on what material should be used to support Pirate Party Australia’s policies.
But what has all this got to do with rights?
PPI – Painful, Problematic Incompetence
When I joined Pirate Party Australia, I heard about Pirate Parties International (PPI), the umbrella organisation that many Pirate Parties are members of. I was highly interested in its goal of promoting co-operation between Pirate Parties, and initially fully supportive of the organisation.
Over the past twelve months, my view of PPI has gone from being one of enthusiastic support, to one of weariness, and now it has reached total opposition. In this article I will be explaining why I now hold that view. Many Pirates I am in regular contact with know of my disappointment with PPI, and some of the reasons. I felt it was time to compile those reasons into a statement which can be used to support movements within Pirate Party Australia to withdraw from PPI.
Surprising RSC policy brief: how to fix copyright law
Two days ago, the Republican Study Committee published a surprising policy brief titled “Three Myths about Copyright Law and Where to Start to Fix it“. I’ve uploaded a copy here, as others have done on their sites, to make sure it stays available, as it has already been pulled from the RSC website. I’m not going to speculate, as Techdirt have, on the reasons behind the brief disappearing, but I thought it was worth writing something about the contents.
Very rarely do I agree with the Republicans, so I was quite surprised to read this document. Of course, I’m biased against modern copyright law, but even copyright holders who want to maintain the current level of protectionism (and go beyond) must acknowledge the accuracy of the brief.
AFACT Afraid of Pirate Party?
By chance I stumbled across this rather amusing critique of submissions on technological protection measure exceptions by copyright warriors, AFACT. The submissions they critique are from a range of organisations: the Australian Libraries Copyright Committee, the Copyright Advisory Group, Copyright in Cultural Institutions, Universities Australia, and Pirate Party Australia (naturally). All submissions can be found here.
The content of Pirate Party Australia’s submission contained arguments in favour of clear exceptions to allow legitimate customers to back up their content, to allow them to format shift across various devices, and to exercise fair dealing rights (similar to fair use in other jurisdictions).
So, what’s so funny? Well, first of all, this rather lovely appraisal of our organisation (derp emphasis added):
Pirate Party Australia 2012 Congress Roundup
Just over month ago, Pirate Party Australia started their National Congress. I mentioned I was going to do a reflection on it in my last post, and finally I’ve managed to find some time to do so.
The National Congress begins with a two-day conference where physical and online participants work on policy changes, socialise, hear presentations and candidate speeches. This year’s conference was in Melbourne, Victoria, and was attended by Pirates from six out of seven Australian states and territories. Motions are voted on at the conference as to whether they will pass to a full-party vote – this is a sort of “mass seconding” – and amended in a similar way.
The first comment I’d like to make is that there were a heck of a lot of things to get through. Last Congress was quite informal in comparison. There were around 30 motions to get through, four presentations and elections for nine positions.
Nevertheless, it was much more successful than the Pirate Parties International General Assembly Conference earlier this year.
Not Idiots
There appears to be an assumption within the broader intellectual property industries that members of Pirate Parties are just whiny brats who “want everything for free.” They consider us uneducated idiots who have not really given any thought into what we advocate.
I find this odd.
ACT registration “failure”
Pirate Party Australia failed a recent attempt to register their Australian Capital Territory branch (PPAU-ACT). What strikes me as odd is that the media didn’t even acknowledge the attempt until after it failed. Okay, maybe it’s not that strange.
But it has been portrayed by several sources, particularly Delimiter and the Sydney Morning Herald as an abysmal failure from a disorganised political party.
Let’s backtrack.
