Aussie Pirate Party Goes Full Steam Ahead

[DaBees-Knees]

http://freakbits.com/aussie-pirate-party-goes-full-steam-ahead-1213

Following an official press release recently that the Pirate Party of Australia is now accepting members, a scathing editorial was written in the Sydney Morning Herald. Such a response was expected, but this tone usually changes when they receive support from thousands of followers.

FreakBits had a chance to have an unofficial sit-down with some of the guys behind the whole deal, hoping we could dispel some of the rumors and maybe give readers a clearer picture of what they are actually trying to accomplish.

What this reporter found when he ventured, totally unprotected, into the official IRC chat room of the PPAU was not a bunch of ‘open slather’ downloaders who have no aim or direction. In contrast with the insinuations in the original article, it is a well spoken group of concerned Australians who are in the beginning stages of what may turn out to be an influential force in the future of politics down under.

The first goal of the fledgling political party was nearly met; obtaining 500 members in order to qualify for registration with the Australian Electorial Commission. The announcement was made last Monday and the party reports that already over 1400 inquiries have been made since then.

The platform of the group is not, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, to abolish copyright laws completely. The aim is to decriminalize file sharing meant for private use and non-profit. Not to get rid of the laws, but to reform them. Another thing that was misrepresented was the fact that preventing censorship and Internet filtering is also a huge part of their platform.

Similar groups have had success in other parts of the world. The Swedish party recently won a seat in the EU Parliament with over 200,000 votes.

Going on record, the Pirate Party stated that they would gladly have sat down with the Sydney Herald to explain better their views had the request been made. None such was ever received. Speaking from personal experience, they were more than glad to chat it up with FreakBits.

For more information or to join the cause (they do accept non-Australian members) check out  http://www.pirateparty.org.au/

If you value sharing give them all the support you can. 

[GhostShip]

What would be worth pursuing is a civil claim for damages, from the above article the newpaper has defamed them and due to its over dramatic claims has no defence whatsoever, alternatively a press complaints route would be the one to go down with the party being able to enjoy a prominent retraction of the original false claims and setting a precedent in terms of a warning shot across those who would tell lies to protect their outdated business models.