[pp.int.general] software patents

[Reinier Bakels]

> What defines a Pirate Party? We can only speculate, because we actually 
> don't have a common document signed by all
> Pirate Parties defining what is that all Pirate Parties have in common.

It reminds me of an American judge who was asked to define "obscenity", and 
he replied: "I know it when I see it". Like Rick Falckvinge once said: the 
information age needs an information party. I guess pirates basically have 
three pillars: copyrights, privacy and patents, and in those fields pirates 
advocate a liberal policy in response to the the "rent seeking" greed of the 
corporate world and/or goverment control freaks who believe that privacy and 
is something of the past if it limits crime fighting.

"Intellectual property" used to get very little political attention, so it 
was a paradise for publishers and record companies (less so for the actual 
authors), and "Brussels" was the ultimate place for "policy laudering", i.e. 
getting dirty legislation formally adopted with hardly any democratic 
"obstruction". Pirates eventually restore the political balance.

Would another "manifesto" attempt be helpful? I don't think so. It makes 
things unduly complicated. Leave it to the academics to devise 
abstractions - a political party should be action-oriented.

reinier