March 15th, 2026 Meeting

Meeting to be held via video conference: https://communitybridge.com/bbb-room/mass-pirates-member-meeting/

Recording:

Reports

2026 Pirate Council Election Results

Chair

• James O'Keefe, 8 votes *
• Elijah McGee, 2 votes

Secretary

• Steve Revilak, 10 votes

Treasurer: James O'Keefe removed

• Elijah McGee, 8 votes
• Abstain, 2 votes

PR/Media Director

• Elijah McGee, 9 votes

Arbitrator

• James O'Keefe, 9 votes
• Abstain, 1 vote

Representative to the US Pirate Party

• Elijah McGee, 9 votes
• Abstain, 1 vote

Positions Elected

• Chair: James O'Keefe
• Secretary: Steve Revilak
• Treasurer: Elijah McGee
• Arbitrator: James O'Keefe, additional positions open
• Representative to the US Pirate Party: Elijah McGee, alternate position open

Decisions/Endorsements

Fifer’s Day table?

The 58th annual Fifer’s Day will be returning on Sat, June 20, 2026. Registration for booths is now open at https://fifersday.org

Booth spaces are 15'X15' and adjacent booths are available if additional space is needed. Booths are supplied empty, tents are not provided for vendors. Tent tie-downs highly recommended, we have hammers for tent pegs. Set-up starts at 7:00 AM. Fair opens 12.30pm.

Fifer's Day is organized by the Boxborough Minutemen Company in collaboration with the Boxborough Recreation Commission in honor of Revolutionary War fifer Luther Blanchard. The event includes a parade, road race, kids inflatables, and volleyball competition at Flerra Meadows, 400 Stow Road, Boxborough, MA.

National Party Conference

Booked the Minehan Meeting Room for 2-6pm on Saturday, June 6, 2026 at the Residence Inn by Marriott Boston Harbor on Tudor Wharf, 34-44 Charles River Ave, Boston, MA 02129. It is next to the Paul Revere Park, a seven minute walk from the USS Constition and a thirteen minute walk from the North Station MBTA stop. From South Station, it is a twelve minute train ride to North Station. The room has space for 16 attendees.

We need to decide on the schedule. Suggestion:

Saturday, June 6th

• 10-10:30am: Gather outside the USS Constitution
• 10:30-11am: Kick off speech outside the USS Constitution
• 11am-noon: Visit the USS Constitution
• noon-1:45pm: Lunch
• 2pm-6pm: Talks

Sunday, June 7th

Two possible tracks that could also be mix and match:

Freedom Trail Track

• 10am-noon: Walk the Freedom Trail mapping surveillance cameras
• noon-2pm: lunch near the Aquarium
• 2pm-4pm: Walk the Freedom Trail mapping surveillance cameras

Family Track

• 10am-noon: Duckboat tour at the Aquarium
• noon-2pm: lunch
• 2pm+: Visit Aquarium

Projects/Events

2026 Campaigns & Voter Outreach

Leader: Jamie

2026 Campaign Plan

Pirate News

Leader: Joseph

• Pirate news recording scheduled for every other Sunday, 7pm with go-live at 7:30pm. Unless changed

Commonwealth Bills to Review

Other bills:

• An Act relative to unmanned aerial systems (H.3749 / S.2438)
• An Act relative to protecting Massachusetts residents against federal government surveillance (H.2687)
• Dignity Not Deportations Act (H.1588 / S.1122)
• Right to Repair Bills:
  • H.433 & S.189
  • H.398
  • H.1278 (Hearing occurred)
• Decrim Sex Work Bills from https://bswac.org/. Emailed Rikki and Desmond their thoughts on them as they are the most up to date on the issue:
  • An Act to promote the health and safety of people in the sex trade (H.1980)

Here is an etherpad for people to offer suggestions.

Bills We Decided On

Massachusetts House data privacy bills - We urge supports to call and ask for multiple changes.

Endorsed:

• An Act to provide accountability in the use of biometric recognition technology and comprehensive enforcement (H.96/S.36)
• Civil Asset Forfeiture reform (H.1953)
• H.1973. An Act protecting personal security. We support the bill, and its senate counterpart.
• S.1731. An Act to promote transparency of facial recognition and driver's license photos. Not great, but we'll support it, because it sucks less than the status quo.
• H.1946/ An Act to implement the recommendations of the special commission on facial recognition technology. We support the warrant requirements, and the bills provisions for transparency and reporting.
• An Act to study the decriminalization of sex work (H.2467)
• An Act relative to safe reporting (H.1747)
• An Act relative to sexual assault by an officer (H.2634)

Federal Bills to Review

• Kids Online Safety Act (S.1748) - We opposed them.
• Anti-Section 230 bills - We opposed them

• Anti-File Sharing bills:
  • Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (H.R.791) - ...more
  • American Copyright Protection Act (Not yet posted) ...more)
  • ... more on the bills at https://torrentfreak.com/fears-of-overblocking-unite-critics-of-u-s-pirate-site-blocking-bill/
• Pro Codes Act (H.R.4009 ...more
• American Music Fairness Act (H.R.861)

A reconsideration of Member Meeting Articles

We haven't adhered to our Articles of Agreement's Member Meetings section strictly since we have existed, specifically the [ https://masspirates.org/wiki/Articles_of_Agreement#4.2_Form Form] and Time sections. Meetings have met weekly and bi-weekly (our current form) and not twice a year each over six weeks.

Rework them to:

• Have a section on conferences (possible spring/fall, at least one a year)
• Rework the member meetings to be on-line at least once a month
• Set when elections for the pirate council is and that we can elect people at a conference or on-line by secret ballot

Working on a draft document at https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/MAPPRevisedMemberMeetingsArticles

Upcoming Events

• Mar. 22nd, 1-2pm, Cambridge/Somerville Pirate Meetup, Zaruma Gold Coffee, 37 Woodbine Street, Somerville, sign up