Thread: "Pirate Party" wins 9% in Berlin-state elections

Originally Posted by El_Zoido

The german "Pirate Party" that focuses on privacy rights, internet-topics and transparency in government won 9% in the Berlin state elections today.

Founded just 5 years ago as a reaction on the infrindgement of privacy and liberty, especially in the internet. They were in a way a reaction to the overreach of government that was labled as "anti-terror" policies.
The party has the youngest base & candidates of any political party in the field.

Pirate Party here to stay

*cheers*

WE SHALL NOT BE DENIED, AYE!!!!!!!

- MeadHallPirate

As I see it, the Pirate Party is what the Green Party was in the 1970s. A party with a limited agenda but attracting mostly young voters because it feels cool, liberal and anti-establishment.

My second thought on this is that fighting for the preservation of the environement (the limited agenda of the Greens ...) is a lot more useful if not necessary, noble than fighting for free content on the Internet (which will not work anway).

But ... err ... I am the old generation here and my political preference goes to the Greens .

Originally Posted by El_Zoido

Pirate Party here to stay

The Pirate Party in German was established five years ago and has since grown to 13,000 members nation-wide. The biggest boost to the party's popularity came in 2009 during a political debate about blocking child pornography on the Internet. Many saw the idea of blocking such sites as censorship of the internet, and feared that it could set a precedent.

Theres a cornerstone for you. :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by Commodore

Theres a cornerstone for you. :rolleyes:

Yeah, become like "China & limit freedom" or be pro-child pornography. Great understanding of the world my friend.

For your explaination. They wanted to delete the pages instead.
That is actually possible within a few hours to 3 days... where ever the servers are in the world.
The same is possible & being done in case of phishing pages that are used for bank-fraud.

Yeah... deleting them is much worse than establishing the infrastructure for censorship in the hands of federal police... without judicial oversight. :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by El_Zoido

Yeah, become like "China & limit freedom" or be pro-child pornography. Great understanding of the world my friend.

For your explaination. They wanted to delete the pages instead.
That is actually possible within a few hours to 3 days... where ever the servers are in the world.
The same is possible & being done in case of phishing pages that are used for bank-fraud.

Yeah... deleting them is much worse than establishing the infrastructure for censorship in the hands of federal police... without judicial oversight. :rolleyes:

How is deleting them not censorship?

Now if they would only run in the US....

Originally Posted by Commodore

How is deleting them not censorship?

I don't mind deleting criminal content from the web or going after pedophiles... especially with a judicial process that could eventually even catch more of them.
But how does establishing a system in which the BKA (like FBI in the US) can block any content whithout court order.... that costs alot, does't really help anyone and is a great risk that can & would be abused.

I dont believe most of the members of the pirate party would oppose banning child porn from the internet.

The problem is that the law which was suggested then was totally retarded. If the law had been implemented and the specified technical solution for blocking child porn had been realized, even a person with only rudimentary technical knowledge would have been capable of overcoming the filter in less than five minutes. On the other hand, the law and the existing filter would have been quite useful to block other, political related content from entering the brains of our not-of-age middle class.

Conservative politicians have been calling for censorship of their political opponents louder and louder recent years. It was the right thing to oppose this law, both from the political and the technical viewpoint.

So the platform is free public transportation, free internet and no enforcement of copyrights? Seems like a rather thin platform.

Well, it's also a civil rights defending party, in particular privacy.

It's thin platform didn't stop it from spreading from Sweden to half the globe. I think it has potential.

Originally Posted by El_Zoido

I don't mind deleting criminal content from the web or going after pedophiles... especially with a judicial process that could eventually even catch more of them.
But how does establishing a system in which the BKA (like FBI in the US) can block any content whithout court order.... that costs alot, does't really help anyone and is a great risk that can & would be abused.

Yeah, because if there is one thing the courts are known for, its speed and frugality.

Originally Posted by lutherf

So the platform is free public transportation, free internet and no enforcement of copyrights? Seems like a rather thin platform.

Well, it is a bit more :


The New Rebels: Germany's PirateParty Celebrates Historic Victory - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Quote : / Indeed, other parties may have overlooked the fact that the Pirate Party addressed the concerns and interests of a relevant group of voters. The party focuses not only on classic themes like direct democracy, transparency and online data protection, but also on demands that would be unthinkable to traditional politicians. The party wants to see the introduction of an unconditional basic income, for example, and the legalization of soft drugs. Both positions sit well in alternative Berlin districts such as Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain.

The Pirates also have something other parties have long since lost -- credibility, authenticity and freshness. The erstwhile alternative Greens, whose share of the vote in the Berlin election fell well behind their expectations, were also once the young party with funny mottos and unconventional campaign methods.

Originally Posted by Voland

The Pirates also have something other parties have long since lost -- credibility, authenticity and freshness. The erstwhile alternative Greens, whose share of the vote in the Berlin election fell well behind their expectations, were also once the young party with funny mottos and unconventional campaign methods.

Exactly.