We at Pirate Party Australia are ecstatic to hear of the electoral successes of the Pirate Parties in Sweden and Germany in the EU elections.

The Swedish Piratpartiet have succeeded in securing 7.1%, over 200,000 votes which will entitle them to one seat of the 18 Swedish seats available within the EU Parliament which has 785 seats overall.

The intention of copyright legislation is to create balance. Balance between promotion of both the creation and dissemination of culture within the public sphere, and the rights of the author to derive both recognition and compensation for the creative process. The artificial monopoly constructed by copyright legislation has been widely expanded and is currently wildly imbalanced, and those intentions have now been corrupted. It now serves to protect stale and inefficient business models, the only beneficiaries are the domineering and feudalistic organisations who seek to maintain their status quo, who seek to continue, and in fact, expand their control. It has become a mechanism where by culture, information and knowledge are being smothered, and locked down.

The copyright monopoly should exist only to provide a means of protection to a work, where that work is being commercially exploited - however this should not extend to non-commercial activity like private file sharing for instance, which is conducted without any intention of financial gain, which we believe should not incur the smothering effects of copyright legislation and certainly not be criminally punished. Non-commercial culture and information distribution must be legal, culture must be unrestrained and free, legitimate derivative works permitted and encouraged - without restriction, and this must be set as the default within the legislation.

Like to contribute? Great! Here are some ways that you help you get in contact with people that will either direct you on how to help, or allow you to contribute directly.

If you think something else could be included here, let us know!

The Pirate Party Australia is currently forming, and is seeking help from those interested in the development of free culture, open government and liberty. If you think you might be able to contribute, or are just interested, please contact enquiries@ppau.info or visit the forum here, or have a look at our wiki.