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Icelandic Pirate Party enters parliament

162 points by tellarin 14y ago

MrUnderhill 14y ago
Interesting. The newly established Norwegian Pirate Party ( http://piratpartiet.no/ http://piratpartiet.no/ ) will also be running in the parliamentary election this September.
- mtgx 14y ago
  There's the German federal election in September, too.
  - brazzy 14y ago
    And the chances of the German Pirate Party of surpassing the 5% threshold are, at this time, zero. They'll probably fall below the 2% they got in the 2009 elections before they even became newsworthy.
youngerdryas 14y ago
Soon we will be able to get any movie for free...oh wait, we already can.
- qu4z-2 14y ago
  I feel like you are perhaps missing the point of and ideology behind the Pirate Party(s). Their focus is much more on personal privacy, government transparency, and sensible copyright reform than it is about "Free movies".
  - youngerdryas 14y ago
    That was kind of the point, this article is vapid and no details are given except they are pirates. I guess I should have posted my other comment saying how falkvinge is the Rosa Parks of this generation but I got too depressed.
    - qu4z-2 14y ago
      Ah, sarcasm is hard to read over the internet. Sorry 'bout that.
kzrdude 14y ago
The booster is that (some) Icelanders demand change and are seeking out new politicians. However, a depressing majority seems to have voted to install the old politicians, that were part of setting up the crisis, into power again.
- tellarin 14y ago
  Yeah, the return of the right to the majority was weird. They were exactly those defeated on the last election after the Icelandic economy quite literally crash and burned. :-/
  - mg74 14y ago
    No the Independent Party (the conservatives) are the ones that were voted out last time and they merely added 3% points this time around (their second worst result ever). But since the Social Dems got slaughtered they are the biggest party now (by virtue of not crashing and burning this time around). The big winners are the Progressives (the farmers party) and they were last voted out of power some 6 years ago, before the 2007 crash. They are winning now because of the Icesave issue which the Social Dems and the Left Greens fucked up badly last term.
  - olefoo 14y ago
    Money and self-deception work just as well in Iceland as in Britain or the US of A. This is a human problem that must be solved by human means. It is tempting when looking at the corrupted nature of our current institutions to think of technological solutions that would render our governments incorruptible by the people using them. But it is necessary to remember that an incorruptible institution is also an inflexible institution and that an inflexible institution cannot adapt to changing circumstances without breaking.
    - nitrogen 14y ago
      If most problems are "human" problems, how does applying "human" means solve them, when those "human" means are themselves subject to "human" problems? Wouldn't it be more effective to use something that isn't "human" or subject to "human" problems? Also, how does it follow that incorruptible and inflexible are mutually inclusive?
vy8vWJlco 14y ago
This is good news, but it reflects a hardening bifurcation (in that some people are strongly pro-copyright, and others are strongly for a roll-back or reform of imaginary monopoly law). I wish playing politics wasn't necessary, and that none of the rallying and competitive commentator insults were needed to keep everyone from feeling persecuted. At the moment, however, the "sharing is caring" thinkers are still under-represented in official roles IMHO (there are more than are given credit, or are able to speak up meaningfully), so this is at least a step towards a fairer dialog in Iceland, and around the world.
- mg74 14y ago
  There's no hardening bifurcation in Iceland around this issue. No one is speaking the pro-copyright voice since it is hard for local politicians geting worked up about teenagers downloading American tv shows. We have a local pro-copyright lobby group (industry association) that has had some success; mostly getting CD's and DVD's taxed, pressuring police authorities doing some token raids every three years and having local torrent sites closed down.
SagelyGuru 14y ago
Congratulations to the Icelandic Pirate Party on entering the national parliament with three MPs! The name "Pirates" does not mean robbers but is meant to indicate an analogy between the freedom of the international seas and the freedom of the internet. Pirate Parties are now established in many countries. The core ideas of their policies are: direct democracy, transparency, free internet.
- mseebach 14y ago
  > The name "Pirates" does not mean robbers but is meant to indicate an analogy between the freedom of the international seas and the freedom of the internet. Uhm, well, no. It comes from The Pirate Bay, a website where you can download predominantly copyrighted media without the consent of the copyright holder. It got there (probably) ironically, as those engaged in such activities had been labeled 'pirates'. The original pirates were not about "the freedom of the international seas", they were simple criminals, and not of the ambiguous kind that modern-day copyright 'pirates' are. It all good, and I wish the pirate parties of the world the best of luck, but let's not over-romanticize the origin of the term.
  - enginous 14y ago
    OP was clarifying the meaning of pirate in the present context, not the origin of the term or how it is used in some other contexts. The meaning you're suggesting is very explicitly not the idea behind the Icelandic Pirate Party. At one point, they publicly rejected any affiliation with The Pirate Bay and said that they did not condone copyright violations. They did however use the opportunity to encourage people to learn about openly licensed content, mentioning Paulo Coelho as an example, and suggesting that people consume free content no less than they do paid content. However advisable or realistic that actually is, it's not supporting illegal downloads.
    - mseebach 14y ago
      > At one point, they publicly rejected any affiliation with The Pirate Bay and said that they did not condone copyright violations. I've always found it endearing how politicians - apparently of all stripes - believe they they can change reality by issuing a statement. The name of the pirate parties of the world can be directly traced to Piratbyrån, the same organisation that started The Pirate Bay. If they were serious about their "public rejection", they should reject the name as well. There is nothing, not even a little bit, "pirate" about consuming free content. Also, since you're bringing up Paulo Coelho: Mr. Coelho explicitly condones the kind of piracy ("copyright violations") that you claim the pirate party does not condone. I'm not sure if it's you or the Icelandic Pirate Party that's being dishonest here.
ExpiredLink 14y ago
The much hyped German Pirate Party already dissolved. They had their 3 months of fame. You cannot sustain a party without substance.
- brazzy 14y ago
  It hasn't dissolved at all; it has merely suffered a spectacular continuous PR clusterfuck that has demolished its chances for years to come, but public memory is short and the issues their platform centers on are only going to become more important. A resurgence is questionable but possible, and hopefully by then they'll have learned a thing or two about realpolitik and organization.
drakaal 14y ago
Hence forth Iceland will honor this day with a National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Unfortunately since the Pirate Party members are primarily computer geeks, talking like them doesn't involve nearly as many Argh, Matey, and Ahoy's as the general population would like.
denzil_correa 14y ago
A note from the article During the night, the support for the Icelandic Pirate Party briefly fell below the five-percent barrier to entry, making the outcome uncertain and the polls wrong. As of 1000 UTC, with all the votes counted, the Pirate Party’s support is at 5.1% with three seats. Article text has been updated to reflect this.

162 points by tellarin 14y ago

Interesting. The newly established Norwegian Pirate Party ( http://piratpartiet.no/ http://piratpartiet.no/ ) will also be running in the parliamentary election this September.

mtgx 14y ago
There's the German federal election in September, too.
- brazzy 14y ago
  And the chances of the German Pirate Party of surpassing the 5% threshold are, at this time, zero. They'll probably fall below the 2% they got in the 2009 elections before they even became newsworthy.

youngerdryas 14y ago

Soon we will be able to get any movie for free...oh wait, we already can.

qu4z-2 14y ago
I feel like you are perhaps missing the point of and ideology behind the Pirate Party(s). Their focus is much more on personal privacy, government transparency, and sensible copyright reform than it is about "Free movies".
- youngerdryas 14y ago
  That was kind of the point, this article is vapid and no details are given except they are pirates. I guess I should have posted my other comment saying how falkvinge is the Rosa Parks of this generation but I got too depressed.
  - qu4z-2 14y ago
    Ah, sarcasm is hard to read over the internet. Sorry 'bout that.

kzrdude 14y ago

The booster is that (some) Icelanders demand change and are seeking out new politicians. However, a depressing majority seems to have voted to install the old politicians, that were part of setting up the crisis, into power again.

tellarin 14y ago
Yeah, the return of the right to the majority was weird. They were exactly those defeated on the last election after the Icelandic economy quite literally crash and burned. :-/
- mg74 14y ago
  No the Independent Party (the conservatives) are the ones that were voted out last time and they merely added 3% points this time around (their second worst result ever). But since the Social Dems got slaughtered they are the biggest party now (by virtue of not crashing and burning this time around). The big winners are the Progressives (the farmers party) and they were last voted out of power some 6 years ago, before the 2007 crash. They are winning now because of the Icesave issue which the Social Dems and the Left Greens fucked up badly last term.
- olefoo 14y ago
  Money and self-deception work just as well in Iceland as in Britain or the US of A. This is a human problem that must be solved by human means. It is tempting when looking at the corrupted nature of our current institutions to think of technological solutions that would render our governments incorruptible by the people using them. But it is necessary to remember that an incorruptible institution is also an inflexible institution and that an inflexible institution cannot adapt to changing circumstances without breaking.
  - nitrogen 14y ago
    If most problems are "human" problems, how does applying "human" means solve them, when those "human" means are themselves subject to "human" problems? Wouldn't it be more effective to use something that isn't "human" or subject to "human" problems? Also, how does it follow that incorruptible and inflexible are mutually inclusive?

vy8vWJlco 14y ago

This is good news, but it reflects a hardening bifurcation (in that some people are strongly pro-copyright, and others are strongly for a roll-back or reform of imaginary monopoly law). I wish playing politics wasn't necessary, and that none of the rallying and competitive commentator insults were needed to keep everyone from feeling persecuted. At the moment, however, the "sharing is caring" thinkers are still under-represented in official roles IMHO (there are more than are given credit, or are able to speak up meaningfully), so this is at least a step towards a fairer dialog in Iceland, and around the world.

mg74 14y ago
There's no hardening bifurcation in Iceland around this issue. No one is speaking the pro-copyright voice since it is hard for local politicians geting worked up about teenagers downloading American tv shows. We have a local pro-copyright lobby group (industry association) that has had some success; mostly getting CD's and DVD's taxed, pressuring police authorities doing some token raids every three years and having local torrent sites closed down.

SagelyGuru 14y ago

Congratulations to the Icelandic Pirate Party on entering the national parliament with three MPs! The name "Pirates" does not mean robbers but is meant to indicate an analogy between the freedom of the international seas and the freedom of the internet. Pirate Parties are now established in many countries. The core ideas of their policies are: direct democracy, transparency, free internet.

mseebach 14y ago
> The name "Pirates" does not mean robbers but is meant to indicate an analogy between the freedom of the international seas and the freedom of the internet. Uhm, well, no. It comes from The Pirate Bay, a website where you can download predominantly copyrighted media without the consent of the copyright holder. It got there (probably) ironically, as those engaged in such activities had been labeled 'pirates'. The original pirates were not about "the freedom of the international seas", they were simple criminals, and not of the ambiguous kind that modern-day copyright 'pirates' are. It all good, and I wish the pirate parties of the world the best of luck, but let's not over-romanticize the origin of the term.
- enginous 14y ago
  OP was clarifying the meaning of pirate in the present context, not the origin of the term or how it is used in some other contexts. The meaning you're suggesting is very explicitly not the idea behind the Icelandic Pirate Party. At one point, they publicly rejected any affiliation with The Pirate Bay and said that they did not condone copyright violations. They did however use the opportunity to encourage people to learn about openly licensed content, mentioning Paulo Coelho as an example, and suggesting that people consume free content no less than they do paid content. However advisable or realistic that actually is, it's not supporting illegal downloads.
  - mseebach 14y ago
    > At one point, they publicly rejected any affiliation with The Pirate Bay and said that they did not condone copyright violations. I've always found it endearing how politicians - apparently of all stripes - believe they they can change reality by issuing a statement. The name of the pirate parties of the world can be directly traced to Piratbyrån, the same organisation that started The Pirate Bay. If they were serious about their "public rejection", they should reject the name as well. There is nothing, not even a little bit, "pirate" about consuming free content. Also, since you're bringing up Paulo Coelho: Mr. Coelho explicitly condones the kind of piracy ("copyright violations") that you claim the pirate party does not condone. I'm not sure if it's you or the Icelandic Pirate Party that's being dishonest here.

ExpiredLink 14y ago

The much hyped German Pirate Party already dissolved. They had their 3 months of fame. You cannot sustain a party without substance.

brazzy 14y ago
It hasn't dissolved at all; it has merely suffered a spectacular continuous PR clusterfuck that has demolished its chances for years to come, but public memory is short and the issues their platform centers on are only going to become more important. A resurgence is questionable but possible, and hopefully by then they'll have learned a thing or two about realpolitik and organization.

drakaal 14y ago

Hence forth Iceland will honor this day with a National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Unfortunately since the Pirate Party members are primarily computer geeks, talking like them doesn't involve nearly as many Argh, Matey, and Ahoy's as the general population would like.

denzil_correa 14y ago

A note from the article During the night, the support for the Icelandic Pirate Party briefly fell below the five-percent barrier to entry, making the outcome uncertain and the polls wrong. As of 1000 UTC, with all the votes counted, the Pirate Party’s support is at 5.1% with three seats. Article text has been updated to reflect this.