20.6.06

Anarcho Technocrats?

A political party forms to revise intellectual property laws, inspired by The Pirate Bay, after the phoenix BitTorrent file-sharing site survived a crack-down by the Swedish police. The so-called Pirate Party gives Wired an interview. The Pirate Party of the United States: founder is a PhD candidate at the University of Georgia; the co-chair a computer science major at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Intellectual property is such an esoteric topic that lawyers, academics and lobbyists have had dominion over it, even though it intimately affects all of us. The public should be informed about and have concrete ideas about IP. Other political parties and public officials should take active stances on intellectual property so voters can associate (the position) with them as they do with taxes and foreign policy. This party is all about raising awareness of issues that only geeks and lawyers have cared about until now. With enough hard work, we can not only put these issues on the table, but, dare I say it, even win positions in public office for ourselves or other candidates sympathetic to our causes.
Update: wow, the movement really is live. arr!

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