If we received this share of votes nationwide in the party vote, and there was no threshold for representation, the Pirate Party would have won 1 seat.

Another important event at the conference will be board elections. This will be the first time that elections are being held for the whole board, as previously elections were held for each position separately as required. Nominations are open until Aug 8, advance voting will be open from Aug 10 until the conference.

In other news, voting is now open on the first issue to be determined by the Policy Council – the term of copyright. This issue is the guinea-pig for the official Party Policy Development system in general, so if this first vote goes well, many more will follow in the coming weeks. Voting is open to all Pirate Party members, as is the discussion for formulating the various proposals. Two more copyright related issues are already in the discussion stage, with the other core policy areas due to follow later.

Last month, we finally applied formally to have our logo registered by the electoral commission. The logo has been open to comment for the last 2 weeks, with the deadline for comments at 5pm tonight. Tomorrow, the electoral commission will be “considering the application” and we anticipate that it will soon be registered.

About the Conference:

When: Sunday August 14, from 2pm.
Where: online in the IRC channel. Mumble will also be used for speech. Contact your local Chapter to see if they will be arranging a local venue.
Who: anyone is welcome to attend, but only members may vote on certain things.
What: The agenda will be available here soon, until then, see here.

About the Board Elections:

When: Members may vote at the conference on Aug 14, or by advance vote from August 10.

How: Instructions for voting will be available here once voting opens.

Who: When nominations close, a list of candidates for all 5 positions will be published here. Until then, instructions for nominations are available at
Howto: Nominate for Executive Council positions. Nominations close at midnight on Monday.

What: The positions on the Executive Council (aka board) are:

• President
• Vice-President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Media Spokesperson

About the Party Policy Development Process:

When: This will be an on-going process, but the first steps were made in mid july.

Where: Member-driven discussions about issues take place on the forum to formulate policy proposals. Voting is by email, with instructions and updates also available on the forum (Party Policy Development » Policy Committee Activities)

Who: The policy development process is carried out by the Policy Committee (mainly by james g atm).

What: The first issue to go through this process is how long the Term of Copyright as per PPNZ policy should be. This issue is currently open for voting, which closes at 11pm on Sunday. Two other issues are currently in the discussion stage – Digital Rights Management and Reach of Copyright. Other issues for can be proposed for consideration here.

New Zealand Pirate Party co-leader Bruce Kingsbury today condemned the suggestion that software patents may be required in New Zealand law.

The bill was reported back by the Select Committee on 30 March 2010, and the committee accepted the view of submitters that software development was an organic process, where new software invariably builds on prior software.

“There is no ‘inventive step’ in software development, as would be required for patenting,” said Mr Kingsbury.

The situation is slightly more complex for physical inventions that include a software component known as ‘embedded software’. For example, a modern washing machine is potentially a patentable mechanical invention, but is also controlled by software running on an inbuilt computer. That software would not itself be patentable, and the select committee has recommended that the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand develop guidelines to explain the distinction.

“Microsoft’s attempt to spin this as a change of position or some insurmountable problem with the select committee’s decision is little more than a last-minute attempt by them to subvert the democratic process to their own advantage,” said Mr Kingsbury

“We congratulate Commerce Minster Simon Power and the Government for continuing to support the select committee’s recommendation and doing what is best for New Zealand software developers and the wider IT community. We hope the Government will continue to resist this unwelcome pressure from foreign interests’ lobby groups.”

About The Pirate Party of New Zealand

The Pirate Party of New Zealand is a political party which seeks to reduce the unfair monopolies perpetrated by the oppressive copyright and patent system in New Zealand. It is our aim to improve individual privacy and civil rights as they apply in the modern digital age. You can find out more about The Pirate Party of New Zealand at http://pirateparty.org.nz.

Elected to the Policy Committee (Caucus):

• Calder, James (James g)
• Kingsbury, Bruce (Edison Carter)
• McPherson, Andrew (kiwipeso)

Campaign Manager:
(position remains vacant)

Elected to Head of Policy (Committee Chair):

• McPherson, Andrew (kiwipeso)

Congratulations to the successful candidates.

Detailed results from the election counting process are available in PDF on request from pirateparty@pirateparty.org.nz

Nominations for the Policy Committee must be submitted by 9pm Tuesday 31 May. Votes must be submitted by midnight Sunday 6 June.

More information can be found on the wiki page here.
For information about nominating yourself or someone else, see Howto: Nominate.

The Pirate Party of New Zealand is disappointed that the Government used urgency to pass the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill after the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Bill.

“Not only is the urgency process being abused,” party secretary Noel Zeng stated, “but our government is also exploiting the people of Christchurch by using their unfortunate situation to pass underhanded legislation.”

Under this “three strikes bill,” if anyone in a household is accused of three acts of illegal filesharing, they could be fined $15000 or, if fines are found to be ineffective, the entire household could lose their internet connection for 6 months.  This bypasses due process, violates privacy, and provides the “Copyright Tribunal” with more discretionary powers. The initial draft of the bill widely criticised when it was debated in November and changes since then have failed to adequately address the concerns raised.  The Pirate Party of New Zealand believes that internet access is a basic human right. The bill is unjust in violating the general principle of, “innocent until proven guilty.”

The Pirate Party is not the only group that opposes this bill, Tech Liberty, InternetNZ and the New Zealand Open Source Society are just some of the prominent organisations that have strongly criticised it. Major ISPs and Internet users have also voiced concerns.

The Pirate Party is pleased to note that the Green MP Gareth Hughes was vocal in his opposition to the bill during debate and should be commended.

About The Pirate Party of New Zealand

The Pirate Party of New Zealand is a political party which seeks to reduce the unfair monopolies perpetrated by the oppressive copyright and patent system in New Zealand. It is our aim to improve individual privacy and civil rights as they apply in the modern digital age. You can find out more about The Pirate Party of New Zealand at http://pirateparty.org.nz.

The Pirate Party Candidate, Hussain Al-saady, received 32 votes, representing 0.21% of all votes. This includes 0.17% of the ordinary votes, 0.27% of advance votes, and 0.79% of special votes. This result put him in 9th place, up one place from the preliminary count.

The turnout for the by-election was only 15421 out of 42815 enrolled, or 36.0%, less than half of the turnout in this electorate in the 2008 general election.

Of course, the achievement for us is not so much how many votes we got, but that, unlike several registered parties and even parties with MPs, we were in the by-election at all. Thanks and congratulations to everyone involved.

Pirate Party of New Zealand candidate Hussain Al-saady.

The Pirate Party of New Zealand is running our first electoral candidate for the Botany by-election this year.  Hussain Al-saady has agreed to represent the Pirate Party in the election, show your support for him … and us by going out to the polls and voting in the election.  Advance voting starts on 16th Feb so check here to find the polling place nearest you.

From The National Business Review:

“Pro-cannabis and pirate parties have more of a chance of winning next month’s Botany by-election than the Green Party, which failed to register its candidate in time.

…

“Chief Electoral Officer Robert Peden confirmed that the Green candidate had not made it.”

Pirate Party members Azyz Ammami and Slim Amamou were imprisoned on Friday and are being charged on account of anonymous DDoS attacks with degradation of state property. There is currently no contact with them and it is not known whether the charges will be dropped or the case will go forward.

Most pirate parties urge European and Tunisian officials to intervene and ensure that Azyz’s and Slim’s human rights are respected.