[QUOTE][tab]Following in the footsteps of the Swedes and Germans, the Dutch Pirate Party has decided to join the national elections being held this spring. The Pirate Party booked a surprising victory by scooping two seats in the European Parliament last year, but has yet to score its first elected seat in a national Parliament.[/tab][IMG]http://torrentfreak.com//images/piratpartiet.png[/IMG]
[B]2009 was a breakthrough year for the Pirate Party movement. With more than 7 percent of
the vote, the Swedish Pirate Party secured two seats in the European Parliament.
A few weeks later, the Pirates in Germany entered the local Parliament after a member of
another party switched sides.
In 2010 the Pirate Parties hope to continue this hot streak, especially during the Swedish
national elections later this year. However, Sweden is not the only country where a Pirate
Party will end up at the ballot. In the UK the local Pirate Party hopes to compete as well and
the Dutch party has now decided to do the same.
In recent months there has been a lot of political debate regarding Dutch copyright law which
currently allows people to download copyrighted movies and music for personal use. Several
established parties have shown interest in criminalizing file-sharers, something the Pirate
Party hopes to avoid.
Instead, the Pirates would like to shorten the copyright term to 5 years and legalize sharing
of all copyrighted material on the Internet. Tim Kuik, head honcho at the local anti-piracy
outfit BREIN, is not afraid of politically organized pirates and described the Party’s plans as
short sighted and unrealistic.
Samir Allioui, Chairman of the Pirate Party, told TorrentFreak that he’s very happy with Kuik’s
negative comments. “He gives people a good reason to vote for us,” he said, referring to the
negative view that most people have of BREIN.
If elected, the party will do everything it can to stop abuses of copyright, promote Net
Neutrality and push for patent reform. The party is further committed to increasing
transparency, strengthening fundamental rights and protecting privacy.
Despite the enthusiasm of the party’s members, there is still a long way to go before they can
actually compete in the election on June 9th. One of the biggest hurdles is the requirement to
deposit a sum of 12,000 euros, a barrier which is meant to prevent too many parties from
entering the election.
Samir is confident that they will be able to raise the money in the weeks to come. He
encourages all sympathizers to become a member of the Party and help to get the Pirate
Party on the ballot.[/B]
[QUOTE][tab]Source:[/tab] [URL="http://torrentfreak.com/dutch-pirate-party-joins-election-race-100308/"]TorrentFreak[/URL][/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Fuck yeah.
Awesome
Anyone commenting on their political agenda should read up on it first, to avoid looking like a moron. "Free games and movies" isn't their aim fyi ;)
Why do I find this here before other dutch sites post it?
Yo ho Yo ho a Pirates life for me!
[B]YEAH FREEDOM OF SPEECH FREE TORRENTS FREEDOM OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT BIG NO[/B]
Wait what how the fuck do we fix unevenly distributed median income problem? Uhhh guys?
You guys need this in the UK.
maybe the US too for good measure
/about the internet privacy thing. didnt read anything else
Also abolishing medical patents? Oh nice we don't need anybody putting any money on R&D anymore. Like, cure for cancer and aids is just stupid.
Something that bothers me is their choice of name, "Privacy Party" or something like that would be a lot more appealing to other audiences. But I'm definitively going to vote for them once they grow bigger and officially becomes a political party here in Norway.
yar har fiddle dee dee
Isnt this old? Or was it another pirate party that joined? Little confused here but I remember something similar to this like 8 months ago
[QUOTE=Asm;20647603]Isnt this old? Or was it another pirate party that joined? Little confused here but I remember something similar to this like 8 months ago[/QUOTE]
Read the article and not the damned title.
Are you trying to say I cant read or something?
[QUOTE=evilking1;20647477]Also abolishing medical patents? Oh nice we don't need anybody putting any money on R&D anymore. Like, cure for cancer and aids is just stupid.[/QUOTE]
Those patents make medicine that are cheap to make fucking expensive, and they're using it to monopolize on people's sickness.
If the patent is absolved, any company could make the drug. This means competition, cheaper medicine and no more ridiculous health bills.
As long as they stay reasonable (which they apparently are), they have my full support in means of open information.
[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;20647818]If the patent is absolved, any company could make the drug. This means competition, cheaper medicine and no more ridiculous health bills.[/QUOTE]
It also means no-one would want to develop new treatment as there'd be no way to prevent every other company taking it the instant you made it.
[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;20647818]Those patents make medicine that are cheap to make fucking expensive, and they're using it to monopolize on people's sickness.
If the patent is absolved, any company could make the drug. This means competition, cheaper medicine and no more ridiculous health bills.[/QUOTE]
The problem is that there is no reason for private investors to fund RESEARCH of medicine, if they won't get any money back, as anybody could sell the results of their funding.
Medical research would have to be funded from taxes (which isn't a bad thing in my opinion), but significant changes in the medicine market and research would have to be done.
[QUOTE=demoguy08;20647170]"Free games and movies" isn't their aim fyi ;)[/QUOTE]
And this is exactly why I like them.
[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;20647818]Those patents make medicine that are cheap to make fucking expensive, and they're using it to monopolize on people's sickness.
If the patent is absolved, any company could make the drug. This means competition, cheaper medicine and no more ridiculous health bills.[/QUOTE]
True, but the problem is that nobody will make new drugs. It's not the making that costs, it's the R&D and patient testing. Synthesizing new medicine is hard.
If there would never have been patents, we wouldn't have even aspirin now.
Yar.
I wish them the best of luck, the more people looking out for internet freedoms, the better.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;20648607]Yar.
I wish them the best of luck, the more people looking out for internet freedoms, the better.[/QUOTE]
I don't know, I'd like to see people making new and/or better (Apart from freeware stuff) movies, games, medicine, books, computers, cars, and music in the future.
[QUOTE=Asm;20647795]Are you trying to say I cant read or something?[/QUOTE]
Yes.
I still don't get it, in any other thread people are wildly against piracy and shit, but in threads like this people act like it's the greatest thing ever.
Medicine (and human health in general) should never be tied to money in my opinion, and this is exactly the case right now. Got a life saving drug ready for you, but don't have enough money to cover the treatment? Tough luck, you should've been sick when you could afford it.
[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;20650350]Medicine (and human health in general) should never be tied to money in my opinion, and this is exactly the case right now. Got a life saving drug ready for you, but don't have enough money to cover the treatment? Tough luck, you should've been sick when you could afford it.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, and I agree with you. But sadly those who do research would like to afford food, let alone medicine. That's why in developed countries ( USA is a developing country in healthcare and human rights) the healthcare is handled by the government. I am not saying that patents and making money out of them is nice, but I'd rather have a expensive product than no product at all. A good real solution would be to make the patents shorter.
[QUOTE=evilking1;20647442][B]YEAH FREEDOM OF SPEECH FREE TORRENTS FREEDOM OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT BIG NO[/B]
Wait what how the fuck do we fix unevenly distributed median income problem? Uhhh guys?[/QUOTE]
hey look another internet white knight who can't RTFW isn't that special
[QUOTE=Mr. Mcguffin;20650783]hey look another internet white knight who can't RTFW isn't that special[/QUOTE]
Yeah I am the white knight of oppressive elder statesmen.
[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;20650350]Medicine (and human health in general) should never be tied to money in my opinion, and this is exactly the case right now. Got a life saving drug ready for you, but don't have enough money to cover the treatment? Tough luck, you should've been sick when you could afford it.[/QUOTE]
The problem is that our society is pretty much whole greed driven. Most of the actual initiative in everything is always done by somebody who is awaiting big personal gain from it. The ones funding (and thus controlling) everything, are mostly mainly going for the money, and people who do things to help are usually content with working under somebody.
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