Don’t Sue the Messenger, Says Pirate Party

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Pirate Party Australia is concerned at the recent spike in litigation aimed against communication service providers, and calls for the Australian Parliament to grant protection for social media service providers and users that guarantees the full sanctuary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in regard to freedom of opinion and expression.

Recently, Melbourne man Joshua Meggitt sued celebrity Marieke Hardy for defamation after she wrongly accused him to be the operator of a hate blog dedicated to her via social media platform Twitter. Despite an out-of-court settlement, Meggitt is now suing Twitter for ‘publishing’ Hardy’s claim, as well as for the subsequent 60,000 retweets[1].

Pirate Party Australia argues that Twitter is not a publisher, but instead is a service provider that empowers the public to self-publish their news, thoughts and opinions to the world. Australian lawmakers continue to live in the past, failing to distinguish between a newspaper that is subject to editorial control, and a mass communications medium that enables communication between citizens worldwide without selection, judgement or endorsement.

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New Website is Ready

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Hey guys,

As you can see, the Pirate Party website has had a significant facelift! Things of note:

  • The site runs a lot faster now
  • The join page has been improved to be clearer
  • The posts are now categorised properly
  • URLs are prefixed with their published date
  • You can go to the next page now! (Our old site had a bug where only the first page worked)

We’ve come a long way but we still have quite a ways to go, doing things such such as:

  • Adding more static content to the front page
  • Changing the icons for some buttons
  • Migrating the old wiki to a new wiki
  • Adding a web form for signing up to PPAU since AEC policy changes
  • Ensuring that there are no dead links on the site

The last one is something you can help us with. If you find a dead link or something amiss, please comment on this post with the issue and we’ll fix it as soon as possible.

Thanks for your support guys!

Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Secretary
Pirate Party Australia

Pirate Party Australia Supports Judgment In Optus Copyright Case

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Pirate Party Australia urges the Gillard Government not to consider any amendments to copyright law, following yesterday’s push by the heads of Australia’s biggest sporting codes for changes to the laws. The push for amendments comes little more than a week after Federal Court Justice Steven Rares ruled that Optus’ TV Now service – which allows users to record and playback free-to-air television with as little as a two minute delay – did not infringe copyright[1].

Pirate Party Australia supports the decision that the service provided is merely a progression from the ability to record television for viewing at a more convenient time.

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Body Scanners Are “Security Theatre” Says Pirate Party Australia

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Pirate Party Australia condemns Labor’s plan to install compulsory full body scanners at international airports[1]. These systems have been proven ineffective time and time again, and the privacy and economic forfeitures far outweigh any perceived security benefits.

Despite having had only a handful of “terrorist plots” domestically – none of which were successful – the Government continues to push the myth that privacy invasion is necessary for “security”. Considering that the few planned terrorist attacks in Australia have been prevented under current laws, Pirate Party Australia questions whether introducing new legislation is actually in the national interest.

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Protection of Journalists’ Sources Vital

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A recent verdict handed down by Justice Lucy McCallum in the NSW Supreme Court could see whistle-blowers and anonymous sources lose their rights to protection in future disputes over the accuracy of news reports[1]. Pirate Party Australia objects strongly to any moves that force the identities of anonymous sources to be disclosed, or to be exposed to undue litigation.

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