Pirate Party Broadsides AFACT & Demands Lawmakers Respect Rights

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[PDF Version]

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has unsurprisingly come out in support of a graduated response mechanism, better known as ‘Three Strikes’, in their war on sharing.[1]

“Pirate Party Australia completely rejects the implementation of any system that disconnects account holders from the Internet, increasingly the most important platform for communication and political discourse today, upon allegation of infringement, without full judicial oversight and due process. Mechanisms like this will see entire households disconnected, upon an allegation from an industry association.” said Party Secretary, Rodney Serkowski.

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Activistsʼ Action Against Censorship Not Just A Gag

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At 5:30PM on April 1st, Activists protesting against the Rudd Government’s proposed Mandatory Internet Filter will gather in Hyde Park Sydney to speak out against Government Censorship.

One of the organisers of the protest and member of Pirate Party Australia, Simon Frew, said. “I think it is outrageous that the government has the audacity to force this filter on a supposedly free society. This is the sort of censorship you would expect of China or Iran, and it is being roundly condemned by the US State Department and Google for good reason.”

“Adding Wikileaks to the blacklist is a good example of how the Rudd government can and will abuse its power for its own political agenda.” Mr Frew continued. “Once censorship infrastructure is in place, it could easily be expanded to cover other politically sensitive material by successive governments. This needs to be stopped before it is started.”

“Our plan for the action is to take part in distributed street theatre. We will be fanning out across the city, wearing gags to symbolise being censored. Each group of people being censored will be accompanied by a ‘normal’ person who will distribute information leaflets to the public.”

“The idea for this action is to bring attention to how censorship is going to affect our lives once the Mandatory Internet Filter is in place. Hopefully some people will end up with a flyer in their hand and their interest sparked.” Mr Frew said. “We hope to create an action that is fun for the participants, as well as a bit of a spectacle that gets people talking.”

Pirate Party Pillages Private Papers

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Recently, a document that is allegedly a consolidated discussion paper of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was leaked in full to the internet. Today, due to the complete lack of a transparent public consultation process with ACTA, Pirate Party Australia will also be mirroring this controversial document, in order to fuel public awareness and debate surrounding government transparency. You can view the PDF with
software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader by visiting the following link.

Download PDF Version of Secret ACTA Documents

Download PDF Version of Press Release

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An Open Letter To Tony Smith, The Shadow Minister For Broadband, Communications And The Digital Economy

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26 March, 2010

Dear Minister,

My name is David Gaetjens. I am the Vice President of Pirate Party Australia. I have read the “Update on Labor’s mandatory web filter plan” article on your blog and I am interested in further clarification. Although you have voiced an opinion on various censorship issues, you seem to have stopped short of saying how Liberal intends to vote on such issues, if and when legislation is presented.

Could you please answer the following questions so that we, and the electorate, may understand your party’s policies?

* What is the Liberal Party’s policy on Mandatory Internet Filtering?

* How will you vote if mandatory filter legislation is introduced?

* How will you vote if opt-out filter legislation is introduced?

* How will you vote if opt-in filter legislation is introduced?

* What is the Liberal Party’s policy on R18+ Classification for games?

Is the Liberal Party planning an independent review of the results of the filtering trials due to the controversy surrounding these results?

What alternatives to ISP-based internet filtering are the Liberal Party considering? Would an optional PC-based content filter, such as the one provided by the previous Coalition government be considered?

Thank you for taking the time to read our enquiries. I look forward to your considered reply at your earliest convenience. If you want to discuss these policies in greater detail, I would be more than happy to organise a meeting.

Kind Regards,

David Gaetjens
Vice President
Pirate Party Australia

Web: http://www.pirateparty.org.au/
Email: [email protected]

Pirate Party Australia And The South Australian State Election

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Unfortunately, although the South Australian Pirate Party has undergone significant progress in its capacity and development was not in a position to contest candidates for the South Australian Elections, and we’ve now focused our attentions on the upcoming federal elections. However the South Australian election on 20th of March is important, and the party needs you to send a strong message to the both the state and federal Labor governments.

Whilst the the Pirate Party Australia, SA Branch aren’t fielding our own candidates, we have identified a few other Parties and candidates we think best reflect the ideals – that voters who would have otherwise voted ‘Pirate’ should consider.

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