"We, French Internauts, presently observe the confiscation, by a
few partisan and powerful groups, of the French Internet Domain,
therefore leading to a prejudice for the vast majority of
Internauts," says a statement on the party launch at
Parti-pirate.info. "The party demands the legalisation of P2P
networks for non-lucrative use."
The party is modelled on the original Pirate Party in Sweden,
which now claims to have over 7,300 members there. That party will
contest September's general elections in Sweden and hope to reach
the 4% of the vote which will entitle it to representation in
parliament.
The French Pirate Party has made six demands at launch: total
freedom of speech; the end of author's rights as currently
constituted; the right to use the internet anonymously; the
legalisation of peer to peer networks when not used for profit; the
removal of taxes on blank media such as CDs; and free internet
access for the entire population.
The party statement asks supporters to ignore in their everyday
lives any laws which run counter to the party's beliefs. "We demand
the abrogation of the whole set of laws that define intellectual
property on the French soil and encourage the internauts to forget
these notions in their everyday lives," it said.
The party opposes the DADSVI (Loi
sur le droit d'auteur et les droits voisins dans la société de
l'information) law currently awaiting signature by the
French president. The law (which translates as 'the law on authors'
rights and related rights in the informaiton society') was approved
by both houses of parliament in France on June 30 but has not been
signed into law yet by the president of France. A constitutional
challenge to the law is still outstanding.
Sweden's Pirat Partiet says that it almost doubled in size
following a controversial raid on the Pirate Bay site, which hosted
links to sites containing copyrighted music for illegal
downloading. The party was covered in the international press after
that event, and in the aftermath, when legitimate companies claimed
to have been damaged in the raid on a server farm.
There are pirate parties also currently operating in Italy,
Belgium and the US.
