In this episode Sam begins a brand new season of the webcast which is now also broadcast live as a Google Hangout. Subscribe to the feed, or view past episodes.
Topics:
PPAU Officially Registered
Formation of Policy Development Committee
Aaron Swartz
Launch of Mega file locker
Bit Torrent Sync
Podcast (webcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:48 — 15.4MB)
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Pirate Party Australia is pleased to announce that its application for registration as a federal political party passed all tests by the Australian Electoral Commission and is now on the register of political parties[1].
The Party quietly submitted its application in late 2012, and objections to the Party’s registration closed on the 14th of January this year.
“Organising and validating a membership database to then submit to the AEC for the purposes of registration is a daunting task. Fortunately, we had a team of volunteers who were prepared to spend many weekends ensuring that the list we sent to the AEC was entirely valid, and I thank them for their effort,” said Brendan Molloy, Secretary of Pirate Party Australia.
The Party will now turn its attention towards developing policies and the pre-selection of candidates for the upcoming federal election.
Pirate Party Australia has made a submission to the Attorney-General’s Department regarding the effectiveness of the Freedom of Information Act 1982.[1]
In its submission the Pirate Party calls for an end to blanket exemptions for intelligence agencies like ASIO, encouraging the application of the FOI framework to all government organisations and agencies. The submission refers to several cases involving the Party’s own freedom of information requests, notably the lack of success in bringing transparency to meetings between the Attorney-General’s Department and industry regarding file-sharing, and the refusal to release draft national security legislation which has been appealed to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Pirate Party Australia recommends caution be exercised in regards to the establishment of a global digital market that would involve ceding sovereignty of data to the United States or other jurisdictions with poor data protection legislation and records.
The Party’s warning bells were triggered by an opinion piece from Jeffrey Bleich, US Ambassador to Australia, published in the Sydney Morning Herald two days ago[1]. Mr Bleich’s opinion piece states that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) may be used to eliminate what he refers to as “cloud protectionism”.
“It’s alarming that they would be even considering such a thing, when the Dutch are currently wondering whether the US can access their confidential health records[2] under the PATRIOT Act[3],” said Brendan Molloy, Secretary of Pirate Party Australia.
Pirate Party Australia made a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission on the issues paper “Copyright and the Digital Economy”. The paper examines the relationship between copyright and changing social practices, discussing the need for adjustment of the Copyright Act 1968 to greater reflect current trends.
Joining a chorus of submissions the Party called for a more appropriate copyright framework for modern Australia. Included among the recommendations made by Pirate Party Australia were the legalisation of backup copies, quotation rights for all kinds of creative material, a technology-neutral approach to reform, and a solution for the problem of orphan works. The submission also recognised the legitimacy of non-commercial/non-market transfers of culture, information and knowledge, recommending that allowances for such cultural transfers are respected by the copyright framework.
The ALRC will make their recommendations for copyright reform before December, 2013. The Commission will release a discussion paper in 2013, with a second call for submissions. Pirate Party Australia will also be making a submission at that time.