What the heck is the Pirate Party?

An introduction for the curious

Pirate Party stands for individual rights against the state

   - Conservatives who used to do. - Conservatives WHO Used To Do.

Pirate Party stands for the right of individuals against big business

   - The Social Democrats used to do. - The Social Democrats Used to do.

Pirate Party stands for freedom of expression and public access to official

   - That the Liberal Party used to do. - That the Liberal Party Used To Do.

Pirate Party stands for strong privacy

   - The Centre Party did. - The Centre Party did.

Pirate Party stands for freedom of culture and knowledge

   - Which the Left used to do. - Which the Left Used To Do.

Pirate Party stands for confidentiality and the right to oavlyssnade counseling

   - That the Christian Democrats used to do. - That the Christian Democrats Used to do.

Pirate Party will not not compromise these positions

   - As the Green Party will do. - As the Green Party Will Do.

Pirate Party stands for openness and diversity

   - As the Sweden Democrats will never do. - As The Sweden Democrats Will Never do.

Contents

  1st What the heck is the Pirate Party?
        1st To get the download for free - it's all Pirate Party stand for?
        2nd Why does the Pirate Party as much about the internet?
        3rd Why do not you position the key issues?
  2nd Focus - on privacy and surveillance
        1st Is the Pirate Party to monitor?
        2nd With something to hide have nothing to hide?
        3rd A little surveillance - is there a problem in a democracy?
  3rd Focus - on the culture and the internet
        1st Is not sharing anything bad?
        2nd How will artists get paid?
        3rd Should not the creator to decide how it spread?
  4th Focus - the party's strategy
        1st Is not this "Pirate Party" a frivolous name?

To get the download for free - it's all Pirate Party stand for?

The Pirate Party is perhaps best known for its approach to file sharing - ie to share and take part in cultural and information on the Internet. Some believe that this is the only party stands for, which is completely wrong. But it is true that the Pirate Party wants to tear up the ban on file sharing, which of course has criminalized an entire generation of young people. File sharing can not be distinguished from private communications. Just the same communication channels used when sending mail, talk, bank, seeking information and publishing text.

The Pirate Party is perhaps best known for its stance regarding file sharing - the belief that the ability to freely
share information is a key right in a democratic society. It is true that the Pirate Party wants to abolish the ban on  
file sharing (which has criminalized an entire generation of young people), but not because we really, really want the 
latest movies without paying for them. The problem is that the methods used to protect copyrighted works involve spying 
on you, specifically you, all the time. Raphaelluckom 21:56, 13 March 2011 (MDT)

In order to stop file sharing is necessary to check the file-sharer in, and if you check the file-sharer what you have to control everything that is sent via the Internet. Then break the principle of protected confidential communications. The right not to be subjected to eavesdropping without suspicion. A fundamental democratic right. Whatever one thinks about file sharing, this is clearly far too high a price to pay. Most of the old parties have not understood this. Thankfully, the youth organizations made it, and parts of the Pirate Party's view. Democracy and integrity take precedence.

To stop file sharing, it is necessary to do two things. First, it is necessary to identify the user associated with 
every transaction. That means that every search term you enter, and every page you visit, is recorded forever. In the 
physical world, as a citizen of the United States, you are protected against unreasonable search and seizure. On the 
internet, you have to show your identification to everyone at every doorway and street corner. It is difficult for the 
average computer user to understand the scope and specificity of the information that can be collected about her. Raphaelluckom 21:56, 13 March 2011 (MDT)

Here we enter the core of the party's policy - to maintain the conditions for democracy intact in the new information society. Basic civil rights must be secured. Sensitive or private information about you may not be controlled by others anyway. You shall be entitled to seek information without being recorded in surveillance systems. Have the right to speak up - to disseminate information, to participate in public debate, to expose abuses - and it anonymously if you so require. The authorities should operate with maximum transparency and citizen insight.

The priority of the Pirate Party is to make sure the rights essential to democracy survive the transition to digital
modes of speech. You should have the right to look for information without being surveilled. You should have the right 
to understand and control the dissemination of your private information. You should have the ability to speak 
(anonymously if necessary) about important issues without fear of reprisal. The authorities should have
to operate transparently, in accordance with clear standards. Raphaelluckom 21:56, 13 March 2011 (MDT) 

The old political parties engage in a disastrous policy in this area. States may now check your communication with friends and acquaintances. Detailed maps of your network of contacts built up. Your cell phone is radiolocated into every time you use it and your location is noted. Entertainment industry has been coercive dishes that surpass the police, to hunt down people who let others take part of culture they hold.

The existing political parties have entirely failed to preserve these rights. Extensive wiretapping programs
[1] exist without publicly-available documentation or oversight. Service operators can build detailed maps of 
your social interactions [2], financial transactions [3], and the real-time locations of your cell phone[4]. Raphaelluckom 21:56, 13 March 2011 (MDT)

Thirty years ago, this is offset by microphones installed in every coffeehouse, the phones were bugged, and that all letters are registered and have steamed up the proofreading of the surveillance authorities. Agents from the music and book publishers had been able to come and ask to rummage in people's bags - in search of unauthorized dissemination of culture! Unthinkable in contemporary Sweden. Conceivable in the contemporary East Germany. One fact in Sweden today.

Imagine coming home every day and finding in your mailbox an envelope of photos of you. There you are taking money out 
of an ATM. There you are buying a present for someone you love. This information is already being collected about you. A 
person with an interest in getting you to spend money, or vote for something, or pay attention to something has compiled
this information about you, and they can sell it to anyone they want. The Pirate party is trying to stop that.Raphaelluckom 21:56, 13 March 2011 (MDT)

The Pirate Party people gather from both right and left to turn things around.

Why does the Pirate Party as much about the internet?

The Internet is one of the greatest achievements in human history, and has changed the entire world's infrastructure. Internet is the best agency for democracy and equality that was ever invented. It is a worldwide bloodstream for conversation, culture, communication, politics, knowledge, development and freedom. A huge crowds of global bazaar where all the people in the world will eventually be able to communicate with everyone.

This strengthens democracy, where all power is deleted from the people. An open debate of ideas can shape the arguments and ideas about how society should be managed and developed. The Internet provides more opportunity for everyone to have a voice. For this to work, fundamental rights are respected even on the internet. A diversity of values and perspectives must be accepted and tolerated. You have to communicate, seek information and publish full texts anonymously if you need it. Letter Secrets, announces protection and budbärarimmunitet must be safeguarded.

But powerful forces want no other. States and governments to censor, filter, monitor, record and analyze everything that happens. Sweden is not alone in this. Similar trends in other EU countries, but also in states such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and China. In the same boat sits capital. Entertainment industry and other commercial forces want to control information sent over the network. They would prefer if you could do on the Internet to a TV-like multimedia channel, or an electronic advertising space and shopping center with no possibility of free and private communication.

Now the politicians talk about prohibiting people protect their private communications (by encrypting it), because if they do, they do not intercepted. It refers to "logon" to get online - with identity verification and registration with the authorities - whether you are at home, internet cafe, or elsewhere. You are committing the crime to share the culture you are holding the government to suspend you from the internet. There is talk that only state-approved operators to publish information or to set up a web site, much the same way as television does today. This would have the teeming bazaar, democratic body, which is the internet to become silent.

The Pirate Party wants Sweden to show the way and be a political cutting edge information. A haven for democracy and free speech. We can be pioneers in a new era.

Why do not you position the key issues?

Pirate Party take a stand on key issues. Pirate Party runs the question of whether we should go into the new information society with the conditions for democracy and basic civil rights intact.

The old parties handle these issues in a disastrously bad way. Pirate Party was formed to try and turn things around, and has chosen to focus all his political efforts.

This does not mean that other policies are not important. Everyone agrees that healthcare, education and care to operate properly. To avoid climate disasters and wars are extremely important. But these are all issues that the old parties are already familiar with. Both blocks operate the policy in a direction that - in comparison with their abuse of information and privacy issues - is entirely reasonable.

The difference between the old parties between them is not large compared to the difference between them and the Pirate Party. The former adjusts the rates, pricing and distribution policies in different ways. Should we have grades in sixth grade or seventh grade? Property tax or property tax? Higher or lower petrol tax? RUT-or's hot? They want to make it sound as if the choice between the blocks is very important. And it is in the nature of things, it's their job. But we think they are wrong.

Daring to drop on account of these duties retail and wallet issues is to take responsibility. To vote for the Pirate Party is to add its voice to the big questions - where it's needed most all right - on democracy, free speech and privacy. On the basic civic rights. We must not let the old parties dismantle them.

Focus - on privacy and surveillance

Is the Pirate Party to monitor?

No, the Pirate Party is not against surveillance. Supervision is not generally a bad thing. There is some monitoring of a community to keep the criminal behavior in check and to give people a sense of security. When someone is suspected of a crime to court to decide whether the police would monitor him. Managed in this way is effective supervision, reasonable and proportionate, and leads to more crimes can be solved.

But the Pirate Party is opposed to arbitrary surveillance and mass surveillance of all kinds, which routinely as a preventive measure detail oversees much of its own people. This is disproportionate, anti-democratic and rättsosäkert. Innocent people will inevitably caught, as numerous cases of abuse and information leaks show. Moreover, it is inefficient. All studies performed in monitoring dense parts of the world shows that it does not lead to less crime, and that it helps to clear up very few.

We are now closely watched than ever. This applies particularly to our activities on the Internet. That it has come to this due to a badly mismanaged integritetsspolitik during the emergence of the new information society. Meanwhile, the terrorist attacks in New York, London and Madrid have created a climate of fear.

Bad politicians who want to show "act" tends to take over the action, with higher penalties and tougher. An example would be to impose the death penalty for numerous crimes. It would be certainly a strong mark. Återfallsfrekensen for certain crimes should fall. Some would perceive such a society as more secure. And yet it is totally unreasonable. It is dysfunctional, disproportionate and rättsosäkert - and hardly compatible with a modern democracy - just as the mass surveillance of its own people.

In addition to this mass surveillance also expensive. It is funded through your tax card, and your telephone and internet bill. You must pay for the staff and the complex technical systems to manage the scanning, listening, recording and mapping of your communications, your dealings and contacts.

Mass surveillance of its own people is simply a very bad idea. The Pirate Party is the only option that really resists.

With something to hide have nothing to hide?

Every human being has a need for an intimate sphere, protected from both familiar and strange. This is regardless of what you have to flour in the bag. Most people want to know that no one observes them as they are at home. They dislike when someone overhears one. No one wants to even the letter should have been opened and read by third parties on the road. Security cameras in the locker room arouses feelings of discomfort. Many conceal what they are voting for, and says maybe not for all his life for his boss.

Not having to show up every part of his private life all the time is something very important to most people. It is obvious that privacy must have limitations and exceptions, such as in cases of suspected crimes. But exceptions must be truly exceptional. The main principle is that every person is entitled to have his private life alone. To question this right (eg the argument that "anyone who has something to hide have nothing to hide") is demonstrating an authoritarian outlook.

Moreover, it is precisely those who believe they have something to hide who has reason to worry about problems. Those who are aware that they should be cautious usually good at getting away. But information about ordinary people's credit card numbers, health problems, sexual habits, religion or political views have fallen into the wrong hands countless times. It is almost a natural law that databases be abused or leak information, usually by external intrusion, human error or technical failure. This allows the innocent caught in the middle. Mass Surveillance of the population creates new risks for citizens.

We have had the secrecy of correspondence in Sweden for several centuries. No person shall without the permission to open other people's letters. The letters you get are unregistered and unread by the authorities and postal administrations. If there is no brottsmisstanke intercepted the phone. And if you want to have thoughts, conversations and correspondence in peace, do not cast suspicion or explanation be required. This is a fundamental human right, and is enshrined in the Constitution, the ECHR and the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

But with the plethora of surveillance laws and regulations introduced demolished the guard up. There is an obvious risk that the declarations in the future will be regarded as historical documents are irrelevant (just as one started to say about the Geneva Convention). It would be serious. Human rights declarations are well thought out, and defend the fundamental values that are timeless and will always be vulnerable to threats.

A little surveillance - is there a problem in a democracy?

Although the Swedish mass surveillance of today is reminiscent of the former East Germany, is the Swedish state is the comparison of "good". East Germany was a dictatorship, while Sweden is a democracy. Some think that this makes mass surveillance acceptable. But democracy means much more than just majority rule and free and general elections. It also requires respect for certain fundamental rights. The fact that a state is "good" can not be used as an excuse to skip some of these. On the contrary - a state that carries out arbitrary mass surveillance and identification of citizens is no longer good.

Journalists' freedom of movement restricted by the digital monitoring. It becomes more risky for whistleblowers to contact the media, and it becomes harder for journalists to engage in investigative journalism. When human movements are identified in the state closed monitoring system, they can completely without involving the citizens reached with their fingertips. This is rättsosäkert on the monumental level. This restricts the media in its important role as the "fourth estate" which will examine the power and expose abuses in society.

To the democratic process to function, citizens must be free to gather information, so that they can build up knowledge about society and the policy options. Not just things that are deal added and approved by the state, but also sensitive or controversial information. We have for example all have the chance to assess and respond to arguments from non-democratic or hate movements. But if we are - or feel - monitored, the risk is that we return to visit certain sites, search on certain keywords, communicate with certain people, etc. For fear of being registered or blacklisted censor and restrict ourselves. We are adaptable. The freedom of opinion hampered.

Knowledge and information is power. Since the State of gaining greater control over various kinds of information related to citizens is a "power shift". The delicate balance of power between government and citizens upset.

People have struggled for centuries to build the free and open society. Monitoring agitators say will do the same by monitoring, recording and control - but in fact they do just the opposite. Important civil rights are exposed to one restriction after another. The democratic gains that have occurred over hundreds of years have begun to be rolled back. And more is coming.

The Pirate Party wants to turn the ship towards the future, we thought of when the Berlin Wall.

Focus - on the culture and the internet

Is not sharing anything bad?

Non-profit copying or file sharing, seen by some as a bad thing. The debate of when copyright protected files that people share with each other on the Internet. Pirate Party agrees that the author over several years shall have the exclusive right to sell his work for money. But to people share their culture and knowledge to each other - without charging for it - is something we want to encourage.

The opportunities that the Internet offers the world is enormous. This includes nonprofit copying. The Internet is not just a tool for communication, democracy and development but also for the unrestricted distribution of culture and knowledge. Text, music and movies can now be disseminated as good as free, and it can happen very quickly.

Sharing of culture and knowledge, is a basic human instinct. Pirate Party wants to allow this, and enable all people to take part in all cultures and all knowledge in the world. It may sound grandiose and utopian, but it's actually very simple. The technology is available. The resources are endless. It's just outdated laws that hinder.

Library of Alexandria burned down. It was the largest collection of knowledge in his time. The Pirate Party wants to build a new knowledge society. We want to see a new Alexandria - though this time with free access for all. For all the people all over the world.

How will artists get paid?

In the future, the artists get paid just like now - by selling their goods and services! Record sales have declined over the past decade, but at the same rate, the sales of concert tickets have skyrocketed. Artists earn a total of more money now than before, which figures from many independent studies show. Moreover, it is they who are downloading the most who buy the most - both music, movies and computer games.

The same goes for the movie industry. It is brilliant! The world's most downloaded film ever is James Cameron's Avatar, which is also the film that has earned the most money ever. In Sweden, every year in recent years has meant record number of movie tickets sold for SF.

To say that culture is dying is not true. Musicians get more money, filmmakers have more money, and computer game industry gets more money. Meanwhile, more and more people access to more culture.

Society conditions for culture has never been better! The Internet is a global circulatory system that oxygenates the culture, and let it flourish. It is now easier and cheaper to access, modify, create and disseminate the culture than ever.

Should not the creator to decide how it spread?

Of course, the creator of something to decide who he or she wants to spread it. If I write a book, I have free to decide who gets to give it out, and who to give it to. But I can not prevent anyone from giving it further.

Just so it works even on the internet. If I have made a disc, I get to decide who to send them in, no matter if I give it away or sell it. But I will not get to decide how other people manage their information. If you own the music that I released you should have the right to pass it on. You should also be free to remix it, build on it, create new from it.

Pirate Party believes that copyright law as it stands today is too great a restriction on the right of people to use and copy their own information. We want to let everyone decide on the information they hold. It will lead to more cultural dissemination and better conditions for cultural creativity.

Focus - the party's strategy

Is not this "Pirate Party" a frivolous name?

The name "Pirate Party" raises skepticism among some. They say they sometimes associate it to the lawlessness, or småkriminella little mischiefs that "just want things for free," and who "can not distinguish between mine and yours".

Pirate Party politics has nothing to do with those companies that do. The background to the name is in the "anti-piracy movement" that has existed and worked against technological development for a hundred years. Pirate Party names are technologies positive and culture positive selection.

We do not have large capital-rich special interests to limit the rights of individuals. It's about your right to self-verify information you have. You must get to decide what to keep secret, and what you want to share tlll others - something that anti-piracy opposes.