The standard logo of Pirate Parties worldwide

43 Countries, 12 Official parties, 2 MEPs,  3rd biggest party in Sweden, 6th biggest party in Germany, tens of thousands of members worldwide; and all just 4 years after the founding of the original Piratpartiet in Sweden – but just what is the Pirate Party, what does it stand for, and why is it one of the most rapidly growing political movements of this century?

Raising the Pirate Flag

On January 1st, 2006, the original Pirate Party was founded in Sweden by Rick Falkvinge, now 37, a former Microsoft employee; with the desire to address the imbalances and injustice imposed by current copyright and patent law, as well as providing a powerful opposition to all attempts to destroy privacy. By the end of the summer, the party had over 4000 members.

In the following years, the movement would continue to grow, and transcend national borders, leading to the establishment of the Pirate Party International umbrella organisation, which served to facilitate discussion and organisation of pirate politics across the globe. But it wouldn’t be until 2009, with the infamous Pirate Bay Trial, and success in the European Elections, that the party would truly become a global phenomenon.

In a landmark case decided in April 2009, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström, all involved in the operation of The PirateBay torrent tracker website, were sentenced to a year in jail, and ordered to pay a fine of $3.8 million (US Dollars) across multiple entertainment companies. Within 10 days of the decision, over 25,000 had joined the Pirate Party in Sweden, bringing the total to over 40,000, and making them the 4th largest party in the country, and by September 2009, the party had already become the 3rd largest in Sweden.

The summer of 2009 also saw the official registration of Pirate Parties across the world, inspired by the success of Piratpartiet, and the rising threats from the media industry and governments on file-sharers and fans; sporting similar policies but tailored to their individual countries. One such party, of which I am a member, is Pirate Party UK.

PPUK Logo

PPUK was established over the summer, becoming officially registered on 30th July, 2009; and now touting over 500 members. Lead by Andrew Robinson, Pirate Party UK revolves around its “3 core policies” of reforming copyright and patents so that “it’s the artists who benefit, not monopoly rights holders.” and to bring about “a patent system that doesn’t stifle innovation or make life saving drugs so expensive that patients die.”, ending excessive surveillance , profiling, tracking, and monitoring of innocent people by government and business; and to ensure true freedom of speech.

It’s the 21st Century, Charlie Brown

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or working for one of the Big 4?) for the past decade, you’ll have noticed that we’re now into the 21st Century – a time of significant social, economic, and technological reform and progress. Digital distribution and social media have ushered in a period where more than ever before, entertainment and information can be supplied to and shared between millions easily, and cheaply; and with it a rise in piracy. This rise, the record labels, and film distributors say, has cost the entertainment industry millions, if not billions of dollars in lost sales – but is this really the case?

Graph courtesy of Times Online

This graph, using data from BPI and PRS for Music, shows UK music revenue from 2004 to 2008.  What is clearly shows that not only have total earnings in this industry increased in this period of increased piracy, but the distribution of this money is far fairer, with a greater share going to the artists who created the works being sold/pirated.

So when the record industry say piracy costs millions and is destroying music, what they’re actually saying is “we think original artists do not deserve to be paid for their work, and profits belong to us”.

The problem for them is in this day an age, artists are able to easily produce, publicise, market, sell, and distribute their own work without the need to enter into wholly unfair contracts with exploitative corporations. Whilst artists and fans have adapted and evolved with technology, the record labels are being incredibly stubborn about doing the same; after all, it means even less revenue for them.

So to try to protect the label’s falling revenue, and stop the artists getting their fair share of the profits, the Big 4, and their puppets such as Lily Allen, have lobbied governments across the globe in an attempt to curtain progress and control the entertainment industry as they see fit, whilst the consumers pay extortionate fees just so that their fellow fans can be criminalised and persecuted in the name of undeserved profit.

And here in the UK is a prime example of where they are succeeding in their goal to penalise fans and artists alike. Following the Digital Britain report, and some meetings with media moguls, the unelected, corrupt, dangerous Peter Mandelson seeks to criminalise up to 7 million people in the population. The Digital Economy Bill would also force ISPs to disconnect alleged pirates (and by extension, their entire family), and not only are ISPs reluctant to do so, some even loudly opposing it, but based on the prior figure and the average number per household, this could mean potentially up to 21 million people – approximately 1/3 of the UK population – have their internet access revoked, something that recently the European Courts have been considering a fundamental right to have access to.

And just today it was leaked that under new proposals, the Secretary of State would be given additional powers to tackle piracy, and would even be able to give authority to any business to force ISPs to aid in the persecution and prosecution of innocent fans. This alone is a disastrous set-back for the freedoms of the British people, and would be a terrible precedent that would be sure to follow in other countries.

There’s also the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secretive treaty which serves to undermine the privacy and rights of the public across the globe.

All of this, just because a single industry refuses to modernise or die? That is why the Pirate Party movement exists.

What can you do to help? Check out these sites:

http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/

http://www.pp-international.net/ to find your country’s PP

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/

http://www.dontdisconnect.us/

http://a2f2a.com/

Remember – together, fans, artists, and the public can bring about the reforms needed to allow the industries to flourish even more, and protect the rights of the individual.