TorrentFreak

Whenever pirates demand the right to send anything to anybody without being tracked, we are somehow accused of wanting things for free. That’s not true. What we demand is simpler: we demand the laws to apply equally online and offline; we demand our children inherit the civil liberties that our parents fought, bled and often died to give to us. It’s an entirely reasonable demand.

With the election around the corner, polls tied, and a slow news week in the US, it’s time to ask the question that’s on everyone’s mind: could Mitt Romney win with some strategic repositioning on copyright policy? Could the answer be to embrace pirate Romney? Let’s explore.

While games usually leak online early, in the case of the long-awaited Halo 4 the time between online debut and official launch is pretty large at just about three weeks. Of course, it’s inevitable that games will be pirated but what some people should understand is that games companies’ are within their rights to do something about it. Microsoft have, and for some pirating idiots their punishment is well-deserved.

When the first Pirate Party was founded, it was with the realization that activism alone had come to the end of the road. Everybody was discussing net liberty issues and how they were being restricted by the copyright industry – everybody except the politicians. We needed to take the fight to these politicians. But how?

It’s almost two weeks since Gottfrid Svartholm was arrested in Cambodia but despite dozens of news headlines and stories published around the world, not one has been able to explain exactly what is happening to him and what his ultimate fate might be. A Flattr programmer and close friend of Gottfrid’s from Cambodia tried to find out by visiting the country’s counter terrorist department and holding face to face meetings with Swedish ambassador Anne Höglund. Here is his story.

I was on a debate panel in Edinburgh, UK this week; a panel about the copyright monopoly conflict. I have had this feeling in my gut for some time, but it became clear on this panel: we’re going to be debating the same topics with the same arguments for another 40 years.

When making laws, there are nominally quality criteria that need to be met for each new law. Are these quality criteria really fulfilled for the copyright monopoly?