Information

As you may or may not be aware, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) are on their way to pass in the US. This would imply terrible consequences on free speech while imposing tyrannical conditions for web site providers like Diaspora servers or YouTube. The only reason for all this is clearly heavy lobbying of the copy monopolists that want people to pay for nothing: making copies that everyone can make at home.

More than seven months passed away since the last PPI General Assembly (GA) had taken place in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The time has come to arrange the 2012 GA, therefore, we call and kindly request for offers of hosting the next annual PPI GA. As all previous PPI conferences had been held within Europe, we strongly encourage especially the non-European Pirate Parties to send their offers. A list of requirements and more information on the conference can be found in wiki.

The following text is a press release of no patents on seeds.

EU governments urged to take legal action

Munich, 26.10.2011. Three hundred people representing a broad range of environmental activists, farmers and development organisations held a protest against patents on seeds and animals outside the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich. With six meter long flying vegetables, a stall with patented broccoli and agricultural machinery, the focus of the protest was the sell-out of resources needed for daily living. After the EPO announced that the patent on the broccoli (EP 1069819) would not be revoked, speakers from various organisations are now looking for political action. Speakers at the demonstration included representatives from organisations such as Friends of the Earth, the German Family Farmers Organisation, the international coalition of “No Patents On Seeds” and others.

The Czech Pirate Party is drawing attention to the dangerous ramifications of ACTA. ACTA is an Anti-Piracy agreement signed last Saturday in Tokio, bringing global Internet regulations, restrictions of digital technology, and a possibility of inspections of computers on the borders. The agreement has been signed by the governments of the USA, Japan and 6 other countries. The European Union and the Czech Republic are only preparing to sign the agreement.

There was no access for the public to the ACTA negotiations that started in 2007 and there had been no access for the representatives of the participating countries for a long time either. Full access to the information from the negotiation meetings, however, had representatives of corporations:

• Warner Bros,
• Motion Picture Association of America,
• BSA (Business Software Alliance) et al. [1]

Loz Kaye—Pirate Party UK Leader:

On Tuesday I met with the Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey, along with interested groups including ORG, Coadec, LINX, a representative of the ISPs, and the Tax Payers Alliance. The meeting was intended to address the outcry over secret meetings between Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the big media industry players, and to put forward a different view to the lobbyists from the publishing groups, who have dominated the Internet policy agenda for far too long.

Pirate Parties from around the world, including the Pirate Parties International members from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Serbia reaffirmed their commitment to whistleblowing worldwide. Concerned about freedom of information, opinion and press, the Pirate Parties have decided in a joint resolution to make Wikileaks available on a worldwide distributed mirroring infrastructure. The mirrors will guarantee that the release of US diplomatic cables can continue and previous publications will stay online.

This week's Pirate Party of the Week is the Pirate Party of Catalonia.

What are your expectations for the upcoming elections? Dou you think you can enter into Parliament? Tell us about the specifics of the election system.

To enter the Catalan Parliament we need at least 3% of the votes. Counting the last elections, that is aproximately 80.000 votes, also it depends on the participation levels, usually low.
We can do it, and we want to; however, it's not going to be easy at all, we must work hard and make a lot of noise.

This week's Pirate Party of the Week is the Pirate Party of Russia.

Will the Pirate Party of Russia participate in any upcoming elections? Please tell us about your expectations for the next elections you will participate in.

We will participate, but not in national elections, we'll start at the local level. To participate in national elections we need to be registered as a political party, and for that we need 45 thousand registered members and approval from the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice approval is impossible to get without support from the ruling "elite", thus, participation in federal elections in Russia can only be achieved through coalitions with active parties. If we get this support and achieve registration, we'll of course be aiming to take part in all elections.

On 22 and 23 20:30 October in Munich in Muffathalle © oPirates a party will take place by Richard Siegal. ©oPirates is an artistic experiment that deals with issues of our society that touches the Pirate Parties as well:

In what way does the body inhabit the community? How does the body react to politics? Which language does the body create when it comes in contact with the others? How is the longing for community expressed in everyday life, and what form will it take in the mastered performances of physically highly sensitized dancers? What are the limits of exchange and sharing? Is it possible to be oneself and to share oneself at the same time?

Avast, Pirates!

We are looking for a port to dock to for our next big assembly!

The Pirate Parties International calls for offers to host the next annual PPI conference and General Assembly.

According to the statutes of the PPI, the General Assembly of the PPI meets once a year. That means the next PPI conference will be held in 2011. The board of the PPI is now looking for Pirate Parties that want to host the next conference and General Assembly.

You can find a list of requirements for your offer and more information on the conference on our wiki page: http://wiki.pp-international.net/Conference-offers