Category: Press Release

Press releases

Pirate Party Australia Submission Paper Decries ACTA

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Pirate Party Australia has decried the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

ACTA’s claimed objectives are the establishment of new global standards for enforcing intellectual property rights, including increased international co-operation to address counterfeiting and ‘piracy’. The European Union became a signatory to ACTA last Thursday, joining Australia, the United States, Singapore and others.

The European Union’s rapporteur on ACTA resigned over the Agreement last week, claiming that there has been “no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations,” and “everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable [and] its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing.”[1]

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Former A-G Suggests Social Engineering Program

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Pirate Party Australia has finished its analysis of documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, and has found evidence that former Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, supports schemes that “must be educative and aim to change social norms.”[1]

In September of 2011, the Attorney-General’s Department convened talks with internet service providers (ISPs) and representatives of the content industry (such as AFACT), to discuss progress on co-operative anti-piracy strategies. Not only does Mr McClelland promote a consumer-excluding “industry-based solution,”[2] it also appears that he was more than prepared to force social change in order to prop-up the dying content industries.

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An Open Letter To Authors & Publishers: Don’t Use Apple iBook Author

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An open letter to authors and publishers worldwide.

To Whom it may concern,

Last week Apple announced the launch of its iBooks 2 app which includes iBook Author, software designed to help writers lay out their Ebooks. [1][2]

There are many features in iBook Author which are quite useful for authors, particularly writers of textbooks. However, any perceived benefit from easy to use lay-out software is offset by one of the most far-reaching EULAs (End-User Licence Agreement) ever devised.

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SOPA & PIPA – The Internet Goes On Strike, Pirates Join

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On January 18 many websites have gone, or will go, on strike voluntarily[1] to demonstrate against the threat of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA) bills, pending US legislation that would restrict freedom of speech, negatively impact economies, and degrade internet security. Participation in the strike has been confirmed by Wikipedia[2], Reddit, Mozilla, and Free Software Foundation, among others. Many organizations, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter, have expressed grave concerns over the bills[3].

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AG’s Department Claims Meeting ‘Notes’ Are “Not In The Public Interest”

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The Attorney-General’s Department last year claimed that no minutes exist of a clandestine meeting between the Department, ISPs and content industry representatives to discuss ‘solutions’ to online file-sharing.[1]

In heavily redacted documents released last month to Rodney Serkowski, former President of Pirate Party Australia, eight pages were censored. The notice reads “the following eight pages […] are hand written notes taken by an officer of the Attorney-General’s Department of the 23 September 2011 meeting. These notes are exempt pursuant to s47C.”[2]

Pirate Party Australia fails to understand why the Attorney-General’s Department felt it necessary to claim no minutes were taken.

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