United States Pirate Party

United States Pirate Party
Chairman	Brad Hall
Founded	June 6, 2006 (June 6, 2006)
Ideology	Intellectual property reform, freedom of information, open government, network neutrality
International affiliation	Pirate Parties International
Website
http://us.pirate.is
Politics of the United States Political parties Elections

The United States Pirate Party (USPP) is a political party created on June 6, 2006. In 2010 it became an officially registered party in Massachusetts.

Background

See also: Pirate Party and Pirate Parties International

  Officially registered pirate party

  Active, unregistered pirate party

  Discussed within PP-International

  No pirate party

The Swedish Pirate Party, officially known as Piratpartiet, was formed on January 1, 2006, when its website went online at 20:30 CEST. Similar parties were created and registered in Spain, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and few other countries, while parties in several other nations also have seen attempts. Each branch and party in their respective countries are unique, independent, and autonomous, save for the discussion of international news on the mailing list.

"Founded in June 2006 by University of Georgia graduate student Brent Allison, the United States Pirate Party’s (USPP’s) aim, loosely summarized, is to completely change how information is shared on the Internet. . . . In the years since its inception, the USPP has garnered, according to USPP Records Officer Brad Hall, 3,000 members and has organized seven state chapters." The party did attempt to register in Utah during the 2007/2008 election cycle but failed to collect the required number of Statements of Support.

According to The New Republic:

If the party is still ironing out the kinks in its image and struggling through some growing pains, it has ambitious goals and is currently building the scaffolding for what it hopes will be a more effective, state-based organization. State chapters have recently been formed in Washington, Massachusetts, and the Carolinas, and more established chapters in Oregon, Oklahoma, and New York are allying with other small political parties, ranging from Greens to Libertarians, to lower barriers that prevent smaller parties from getting on the ballot, such as the number of required signatures. Though no Pirate candidates have ever run for office, the Massachusetts state party hopes to present candidates for local and state positions in the next two years.

Platform

The Pirate Party's platform centers on issues of intellectual property. "Like its international counterparts, the USPP’s main practical concerns are digital intellectual property and privacy laws—specifically, the abolition of a 1998 digital U.S. copyright law, the reduction of copyrights to 14 years (from 95 years after publication, or 70 years after the author’s death), and the expiration of patents that don’t result in significant progress within four years (as opposed to 20 years)."

Criticism

In a 2007 interview with ZDNet, MPAA executive vice president and chief strategy officer Dean Garfield strongly criticized the entire Pirate Party movement, claiming "There's nothing about what the Pirate Bay does or what the Pirate Party does that is legitimate. There's nothing philosophically principled about it."

At a 2008 preview of his new "Change Congress" project, Stanford professor and Creative Commons founding board member Lawrence Lessig expressed his skepticism of the Pirate Party in the United States. He then criticized the name of the party and the media's use of the word "piracy", saying "Call your party the Pirate Party, and you'll reinforce that. The branding is not one that I would embrace here in the United States." (His essay "Pirates" from his book Free Culture (2004) was nonetheless included in the book No Safe Harbor: Essays About Pirate Politics (2012), ISBN: 1468033999 ISBN-13: 978-1468033991).

Chairperson

The Chairperson of the party is elected every July by a membership vote, as established in the party constitution

Name	From	To
Brent Allison	June 6, 2006	June 9, 2006
Joshua Cowles	June 9, 2006	May 2007
Andrew Norton	May 2007	September 2008
Glenn Kerbein	September 2008	July 2009
Ryan Martin	July 2009	December 29, 2009
Bradley Hall	December 29, 2009	January 28, 2010
Brittany Phelps	January 28, 2010	July 15, 2011
Bradley Hall	July 15, 2011	incumbent

^a Mr Norton stepped down mid-term to head up Pirate Parties International. Mr Kerbein, as Operations Officer, stepped into the position for the rest of the term.

^b Mr Martin was removed via a Vote of No Confidence on December 29, 2009. Mr Hall was selected as Administrator pro-tempore for a 30-day period until elections could be held

^c See Wikinews interview with Peter Coti.

Board of Directors / Officers

• Administration Officer (Chair) - Bradley Hall
• Operations Officer (Vice-Chair) - Vacant
• Records Officer - Vacant
• Promotions Officer - David Rickman
• Finance Officer - Vacant
• Legal Officer - Vacant

State parties

• The Pirate Party of Oklahoma was formed on January 18th, 2010 with the signing of its constitution, and the filing of a motion of intent to form a political party with the Oklahoma Election Board. The founding chairman was Marcus Kesler. The party was named an official state chapter of the United States Pirate Party on January 19th, 2010. The party mounted a signature drive to try to gain access to the Oklahoma ballot, but was unsuccessful. The party did not run any candidates for office in 2010.
• The Oregon Pirate Party was given official state party status on November 9th, 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Pirate Party Radio

Pirate Party Radio is a weekly audio show, produced by RantMedia, broadcast online every Thursday with host James O'Brien and is the official radio show of the United States Pirate Party and of the Pirate Party of Canada.

See also

• Copyright in the United States
• List of United States political parties
• Patent pirate

External links

• Official Website
• Wiki