Press release archive for June 2012

Loz Kaye gave a talk at the 'OpenHere' festival at the Hacklab, Trinity College Dublin. The event, by the CTVR / The Telecommunications Research Centre, in collaboration with the Dublin Art and Technology Association (D.A.T.A) intends to address social, technological and cultural issues surrounding the notion of the digital commons.

"The essence of a network is its connections and, indeed, the multiplicity of those connections. While there are many ways of networking (putting up a card in the newsagent's window still works fine!) we can not avoid at this point of the 21st century that the network of networks is the Internet."

On the 16th of June the Pirate Party National Executive Committee confirmed Party Leader Loz Kaye as their candidate for the Manchester Central by-election in November. The unanimous decision comes after Loz received 5% of the vote in Bradford ward in Council elections this year and affirms the Party's decision to stand local candidates wherever possible to give voters a choice to 'Vote Pirate'.

Loz Kaye commented on reports in the Manchester Evening News that children in Manchester are being taught in overcrowded classrooms:

"With my background in education I know that class sizes are crucial. It’s the difference between being able to help every student with their different backgrounds, and seeing them as a mere mass to churn through the next test."

"One of the most striking things is that of any area in Greater Manchester, Manchester City is doing the worst in terms of provision for infants. We need to do better."

Loz Kaye commenting on reports that the owner of TV streaming links site SurfTheChannel has been found guilty of conspiracy to defraud at Newcastle Crown Court for "facilitating" copyright infringement said:

"This was not a case brought using copyright law. The interest groups involved couldn't present a case of copyright infringement and instead decided to press for the use of the common law offence of "conspiracy to defraud". This is one of the most controversial crimes in English law, it criminalises conduct by two or more people that would not be criminal when performed by an individual."

Loz Kaye speaking at the second annual physical Pirate Party UK National Executive meeting, which set out the parties priorities for the coming months, gave the following opening address:

"Welcome. "

"It's a year since we last did this, or just over. I know that it was a very significant meeting last year, it set the tone for a lot of what has happened since and I think that being here, in this room, is symbolic of a lot of that."

"We have achieved a lot since the last meeting, we have an almost entirely new NEC. In terms of finances and organisation, we were dealing with the chaos of our previous treasurer leaving, even if that feels ancient now, we no longer face such issues. We have a new website which looks entirely different from last year. Our site is now the 636th most visited [in the UK]."

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was rejected by the European Parliament's International Trade committee (INTA) by 19 votes to 12 today. The vote comes after widespread international public opposition to the treaty. The committee also decided to ignore calls to postpone voting until after a European Court of Justice (ECJ) review of ACTA, widely seen as a delaying tactic to suppress opposition.

Ed Geraghty made the following comments on hearing of the result:

"Our objections to ACTA have been consistent. This treaty was discussed in secret and it diminishes privacy in order to protect outdated business models. It harms developing countries and unfairly favours the big players. It's neither in our interests nor your interests; it's not for your benefit, it's not good for humanity."

BT became the latest major UK ISP to block its customers from accessing the The Pirate Bay yesterday evening. BT has also blocked the additional addresses added by the Pirate Bay in response to the block in recent weeks. Within minutes of the block being put in place, the Pirate Bay made additional addresses available to circumvent the block.

Loz Kaye made the following statement on BT's block:

"Last year, Vince Cable promised the country that the site blocking provisions of the Digital Economy Act would not be implemented, this was widely interpreted as meaning the coalition is opposed to web censorship."

The Pirate Party UK has hosted a proxy (tpb.pirateparty.org.uk), allowing people to connect to the Pirate Bay via Pirate Party servers, since the 19th of April 2012. We provided the proxy as a tool for users on networks where the Pirate Bay is blocked through filtering, and in support of our sister party in the Netherlands.  

Our proxy continues to be a legitimate route to the Pirate Bay for those affected by court orders issued to some (but not all) UK ISP's requiring the site to be blocked. Whilst some providers continue to allow access to the web in an unfiltered manner, others are unfortunately choosing (or being ordered by a court) to deliberately try and limit access to specific parts of the internet.

Ed Geraghty commented on reports that Julian Assange is seeking political asylum in London's Ecuadorian Embassy:

"It is extremely unfortunate that Mr Assange has felt the need to take this step. Assange has maintained that this extradition is politically motivated and it would appear he feels that the Australian government is unable or unwilling to provide him with the support he needs."

"No matter what happens with Assange, it is important to remember that Wikileaks is far bigger than any one person and that their increasingly important work must go on."

Labour's Legacy, the future of Freedom

Loz Kaye commented on the lack of respect for liberties the Draft Communications Data Bill (CDB) provides and questions whether the opposition will fight against such legislation.

"Many of the justifications for CDB include 'if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear'. We know that the truth is that with CDB everyone has something to fear. It is also pointed out that this is the continuation of a Labour policy and so seems to have the support of all three main parties."

A future with less freedom, not more?

Andy Halsall commented on the lack of respect for liberties that the Draft Communications Data Bill (CDB) provides especially in the context of election promises and the coalition agreement between parties in Government.

"Before the General election the Prime Minister said that  'Faced with any problem, any crisis – given any excuse – Labour grasp for more information, pulling more and more people into the clutches of state data capture… And the Government doesn’t want to stop with the basic information. They want the most complex, important, personal information there is… Scare tactics to herd more dis-empowered citizens into the clutches of officialdom'.”

“He was right then.  Now however the Coalition is aiming to do exactly what they claimed to stand against.  To 'grasp' for more and more sensitive data, claiming that it will help fight crime and deal with terrorism without having an ...

Ed Geraghty commented on the Supreme Court's rejection of the application by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to reopen his appeal against his extradition to Sweden:

"The case has brought the discussion about the issues with the European Arrest Warrant system and extradition more into the public eye, although many of the more problematic aspects from this case still remain unresolved."

"I would again point out that the UK's main political parties have decided not to comment on this case, although they have used other extradition cases and deportations to push their positions. This shows how scared the British establishment is of scrutiny and dissent."

The Draft Communications Bill

'A Snoopers Charter'

The Draft Communications Data Bill (CDB) is the latest incarnation of the Interception Modernisation Programme. CDB is a mass surveillance scheme for the UK. It will allow the logging of every phone call, email, text message and letter as well as communication on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Loz Kaye commented on the draft issued today:

"In talking about the Communications Data Bill we are hearing the sinister justification that 'if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear". The truth is that everyone has something to fear from the CDB. It is an extreme violation of privacy and is a threat to liberty."

Loz Kaye, Leader of the Pirate Party commenting on the result of the vote calling for an investigation into whether Jeremy Hunt has broken the ministerial code of conduct said:

"Today's vote shows what damage purely partisan motivations can do to harm the Public’s trust in politicians."

"That a demand for an investigation was even necessary shows that the Coalition is simply not interested in transparency, openness or in cleaning up politics. The fact that the Liberal Democrats failed to stand up for a cleaner, more transparent government is especially troubling."

Loz Kaye, Leader of the Pirate Party commenting on the vote calling for an investigation into whether Jeremy Hunt has broken the ministerial code of conduct said:

"It is unfortunate that the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has instructed his MP's to abstain in the vote today."

"Abstaining from the vote will have the same effect as opposing it. The Pirate Party believes in transparency and, given allegations that Mr Hunt may have mislead the House of Commons about his contact with News Corporation it is important that an investigation is carried out."

I always seem to be making speeches with dire warnings, and bringing dire news of the latest attempt to break the Internet. So it's nice to bring some good news for once.

ACTA, you are going down.

As Sky began their block of the Pirate Bay, we saw a further increase in traffic to our proxy at tpb.pirateparty.org.uk. The increase is a little less than that from Virgin, perhaps because Sky have chosen not to explain to their users why they are blocking the Pirate Bay