FAQ
From PirateWiki
Are you a joke party?
No. We have a serious platform of intellectual property law reform and protection of privacy rights and freedom of speech.
Are you a single issue party?
No. We don't have fully developed policies on all issues, however we do have policies on intellectual property and civil liberties. We are specifically avoiding making policies that could fracture our member base, which is why you won't see us with an education policy, even while our members tend to be highly educated. We feel that intellectual property and civil liberties are broad enough topics, which encompass such issues as internet censorship and three strikes legislation.
Why don't you think that intellectual property should be treated the same as real property?
Real property is something that you can touch. In simple terms, if one person possesses it, another person cannot possess it at the same time. Intellectual property is information. If a person makes a copy of a song, the person who owns the original is not deprived of the song.
Why are you against copyright?
We are not against copyright as a concept. We are against the current implementation of copyright. Society has created the notion of copyright in order to promote creativity. The creativity that is promoted is not solely for the financial gain of those who produce new ideas; it is for the benefit of the society's culture. Copyright in New Zealand lasts for 50 years past the death of the author. We see this as ridiculous. Also, the length of copyright has been changed several times so that almost nothing has fallen out of copyright for the last several decades.
Why “Pirate” Party? Aren’t pirates swashbuckling miscreants and thieves? Does this mean you support copyright infringement?
The Pirate Party of New Zealand in no way advocates the illegal duplication and distribution of copyrighted materials, or the breaking of any other laws, especially those of the high sea. We seek to reform laws through the proper parliamentary process.
However we also recognise that civil disobedience may be a legitimate way to protest when governments have stopped listening to anything else. For many people, it seems that the governments of the world are only listening to the concerns of a small but influential minority in the "content industries", and many of those people have started to simply ignore the law because they do not feel that it is fair or justified.
Copyright is an abstract concept, a monopoly granted by statute over the copying of creative works. The Pirate Party accept that a temporary, limited copyright monopoly may provide an overall benefit to society by encouraging the creation of new works, however we disagree with the degree and length of control that the law currently allows. Overreaching copyright acts to constrain rather than foster innovation and makes lawbreakers of an entire generation who are sharing knowledge, culture and information freely and for no monetary gain.
We recognise the iniquity of those seeking to prevent the development of free culture and alternative models of distribution via immoral and questionable means, whilst portraying and labelling those that share information privately and for no monetary gain, as nothing more than villainous, degenerate ‘pirates’. We seek to halt and de-construct the digital feudalism which now pervades the market, the reform of legislation that is currently manipulated to protect obsolete business models and feudalistic copyright controls.
In response to this, the party has adopted the very term employed by associations and copyright maximalists, intended to demonise and promote further and more strict criminalisation of file sharing and free culture distribution, and used it to identify ourselves as a means of drawing attention to the fallacious nature of the label. It is true that we sail on the gales of creative destruction, however, we do so in the hope of aiding the creation of an open and democratic information society and founding of a cultural commons.
Do you support abolishing intellectual property entirely?
Not at all.
The term "Intellectual Property" includes a number of different areas of law. The Pirate Party only has policies on copyrights and patents.
On Copyright; We believe that the goals of copyright to promote creativity and invention are reasonable. We don't believe in restricting normal use of legally purchased content, prosecuting non-commercial file sharers, or extending the term of copyright decades beyond the typical 'make or break' publishing cycle.
On Patents; We mostly oppose the entire patent system. In brief; We believe that Patents on discoveries and living organisms are never justifiable and morally abhorrent. We believe that patents in software are highly disruptive to software development and do nothing to promote innovation. We believe that patents on pharmaceuticals are not the most cost effective mechanism to fund pharmaceutical research, as well as having the unacceptable consequences of making many pharmaceuticals unaffordable in developing countries. In most other areas we feel that patents are unnecessary, and harm rather than contribute to innovation.
Do you think that commercial copyright infringement or patent infringement is ok?
No. Our position is that if someone has found a way to profit from another person's work while it is still under copyright, it is quite reasonable that they share whatever profit they make with the original creator or that they can wait until the work falls into the public domain.
Are you a recognised political party?
Currently the Pirate Party of New Zealand is not an officially registered political party, but ultimately the goal is to be registered with the New Zealand Electoral Commission. We hope that this gives us means to exert real political pressure to effect change of intellectual property legislation and expand public understanding of the issues surrounding them within the New Zealand jurisdiction.
In order to attain official registered party status we must firstly acquire 500 financial members and present a written constitution defining party aims and structure.
What is your stand on X?
The party, at this point in time, does not intend to develop policy or have official views on any issue or event outside of its primary focus of intellectual property rights and by extension, privacy issues related to current laws. The benefit of this is two fold. First, it allows the party to focus and create a solid, unified policy on these issues, without being disrupted or being misrepresented because of any other issue, and second, the freeing of culture and sharing of knowledge is something that cannot be placed at either end of the political spectrum. A believer in laissez-faire markets may agree with a socialist on the subject of free culture and copyright. To begin limiting and casting official party opinions on other political issues discredits and takes away focus from the fundamental issue on which the party was founded. This of course, does not preclude members from their individual opinions on issues outside of the parties defined scope, in fact it is encouraged, as we seek to bring together different perspectives in our policy formulation.
Can I join?
Yes you can. We have set up a how to join page that details what is required for you to join, and how to get the application to join the party.
Can I donate?
We do not have procedures to accept and process donations yet, although we allow a one-off donation with your membership application. If you wish to help then you should join the party, sign up to the website, write an essay, link a story, help with the constitution and policy formulation, contribute on the forums and make this issue a talking point. Your time and effort is donation enough at this time.
(originally sourced from The Pirate Party of Australia FAQ)
