Pirate News Top Three 23/04/2013

Worried About Accidental Illegal Filesharing? Get Insurance.

The Local has reported that the Swedish Pirate Party has unveiled a “File-Sharer Fine" Insurance, which will pay out on any fines a person receives as a result of file-sharing. The argument goes that it can be difficult to know what is legal to download and what isn’t, as a result of poor copyright policy as well as contradicting laws in different countries (e.g. regarding mp3/mpg licences). The idea comes from planka.nu, a similar scheme in which people can insure against getting caught without a ticket on the Stockholm Metro system. It would be interesting to see what the premiums would be like and how they are calculated.

Full Article At The Local: Pirate Party launches file-sharer fine insurance

 

International Pirate Parties Compared

With the ever-growing Pirate Movement straddled across many continents and very largely influenced by their respective memberships (and rightly so), The Pirate Times has started working on a table which compares the policies that national Pirate Parties have decided to campaign or have a policy on, although at the moment it is very general. Interesting points include the focus on Church-State Separation in a number of Eastern European states, as well as the obvious near-unanimous agreement on policies such as Patent Reform, Privacy and Net Neutrality.

Full Article Available At The Pirate Times: The Pirate Times Pirate Party Policy Comparison Table

 

Cameron To Opt-Out of EU Social Media Policy?

It seems popular right now to slag off anything that comes from the EU; the apparently undemocratic institution we elect MEPs to every year is a force of evil, makes it illegal for us to call ourselves British anymore, etc. etc. Although this might win votes, it seems the current government is taking the very position it criticises the Labour Party of doing; namely opposition for the sake of opposition. David Cameron seems to be intent on opting-out of EU legislation that would mean companies such as Google and Facebook are required to remove all of your data if you request it. I’ll leave the question open as to whether this seems a good idea or not.

Full Article At Pirate Party UK Blog: Opinion: Cameron Wants to Forget The Right to be Forgotten

Professors Hunted Down For Pro File-Sharing Opinion

Torrentfreak reports that Roger Wallis (a multimedia professor brought in to explain the positive aspects of file-sharing during trials against the Pirate Bay founders) had numerous attacks on his credibility during the trial after making the statement that piracy can actually boost sales in certain circumstances.

It isn't new for large corporations to use lawyers to attempt to discredit professors for disagreeing with their views (just look at anyone trying to portray anything negative about pharmaceutical companies), but it does represent an act of desperation on the part of the music/film industry that they have to resort to such personal attacks.

Full Article at Torrentfreak: "Pro File-Sharing Professors ‘Hunted Down’ by the Copyright Lobby"

Legally Download "TPB AFK": A Documentary on the Pirate Bay Trials (from The Pirate Bay; licensed for free distribution)