Pirate Party UK announces General Election Manifesto

Today, the Pirate Party UK is pleased to announce its 2010 General Election Manifesto.

The full manifesto, containing more detail of our policies and the reasoning behind them, can be read online, or downloaded in PDF format (both in colour and in black and white).

Manifesto Overview

The Pirate Party is a new type of political party.
A party that talks about issues the other parties ignore.
A party free from corruption and expenses scandals, free from lobbyists and party whips.
A party that is not left wing or right wing.
A party that admits it doesn't always have all the answers, and is willing to listen.
A party that wants to give you more rights not burden you with any more taxes.

We will give the public the following new rights:

• The right to share files provided no money changes hands.
• The right to format shift and time shift data.
• The right of access to government funded data.
• The right to compensation for government data loss.
• The right to safely encrypt private data.
• The right to apply to a court for compensation where data protection laws have been broken.
• The right for constituents to force a by-election.
• The right to pay only for the fraction of the claimed broadband speed that an ISP actually delivers.
• The right to be a whistleblower.
• The right for photographers and filmmakers to go about their business without persecution under anti-terror laws.
• The right for disabled people to demand an unrestricted version of DRM protected content where that is necessary to allow them to access it.

We will reform outdated laws:

• We will abolish drug patents, replacing them with subsidies.
• We will reduce the length of copyright to 10 years.
• We will provide exemptions to patent law for non-commercial use, personal study and academic research.
• We will introduce system of compulsory patent licensing.
• We will reform libel law.
• We will prohibit the abuse of RIPA powers.
• We will remove loopholes in copyright and patent law.

We will protect the public from abuses of new technology:

• We will forbid third parties from intercepting or monitoring communication traffic.
• We will introduce a mandatory warning label on products that include DRM.
• We will introduce laws on the acceptable use of CCTV and DNA samples.
• We will legislate in favour of net neutrality.
• We will introduce stronger data protection laws.
• We will not allow government censorship of the internet.
• We will put into action the government's Open Source Action Plan.
• We will require the BBC to release all their content under a Creative Commons licence.
• We will prevent the BBC from using DRM technology.
• We will ensure better computing education in schools.