Press release archive for October 2012

The BPI has demanded that UK ISPs start blocking three new torrent sites, or face being dragged through the courts.

The news comes just a week after yet another study proved that users of filesharing networks spend more money on music than non-sharers. Pirate Party UK Culture spokesperson Andrew Robinson commented:

"Not only does site blocking fail to achieve its stated aim (as our Pirate Bay proxy has shown) it is setting a highly damaging precendent for those who would restrict freedom of expression on the Internet."

"Earlier this month Foreign Secretary William Hague stated that 'efforts to suppress the Internet are wrong and are bound to fail over time', yet this government is happy to allow British courts to censor the Internet at the behest of unaccountable corporate interests."

A Norwegian woman identified as "Linn" has had the contents of her Kindle remotely wiped by Amazon, who refuse to tell her why they have done this.

Amazon's Kindle book reader is remotely tethered to Amazon via the internet. Amazon have the ability to go in and delete anything from it at any time. The user may think they own it but they don't.

This is not the first time Amazon have used this power against their users. In 2009 they deleted copies of George Orwell's famous novel Nineteen Eighty Four from their customers' Kindles. The customers had bought the book in good faith but Amazon realised the book shouldn't have been sold to them. Ironically, the novel features an all-powerful state where old documents are disappeared down a "memory hole".

Pirate Party spokesperson Andy Robinson commented:

"This highlights the dangers with DRM. When you buy ...

Theresa May handed down a long-overdue decision today, saying that Gary McKinnon's extradition to the USA was to be prevented on human rights grounds. She also announced changes to UK-US extradition arrangements, announcing a "forum bar" whereby a judge can block an extradition and order a trial on UK soil.

"Today's decision is welcome, if long overdue. It's frankly a scandal that Gary McKinnon has been left waiting for more than a decade. This case has not made the US, or the UK, safer. It has however torn a family apart, and I hope Gary McKinnon and his mother Janis Sharp can start to rebuild their lives.