BPI Legal Action

The proxy server the Pirate Party UK initially provided in solidarity with other parties in Europe, but later as an anti-censorship resource for UK users, has now been been removed. Loz Kaye made the following statement:

Elected members of the party's National Executive Committee, along with the head of IT, received letters from lawyers acting for British Phonographic Industry (BPI), threatening them personally with High Court legal action.

After seeking exhaustive advice, as well as attempts to open dialogue with the BPI, it has become clear that the law as it stands makes any decision to continue hosting the proxy impossible. This is not the outcome I wanted, however a challenge to this action from the BPI would make it financially impossible, even in light of recent fundraising efforts, to campaign actively in the way our members expect.

We will be continuing to fight for digital rights, transparency and all the other issues that we care about.

The Pirate Party UK would like to thank those people and organisations who offered support and assistance in the last few weeks and will of course offer to return any donations made since the 9th of December, we will be contacting donors individually from today.

Please also see this statement from Frances Nash and Ralli Solicitors on our behalf.