[pp.int.general] Pirate Party MEP Fails to Deliver True Copyright Reform | TorrentFreak

[Amelia Andersdotter]

On 01/27/15 14:18, carlo von lynX wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 12:30:25PM +0100, Amelia Andersdotter wrote:
>> Unfortunately there is little choice. Julia's report is cautious and
>> disingenous. She is actually hindering the European Commission from
>> being as reformist as the Commission wants to be.
> This is an interesting point we should have debated collectively and
> given Julia guidance in due time. How have you reached out to her?
The consultation was there, and Julia was aware of it, and Julia Reda
has published the Commission consultation on her blog several times.
Over 1000 German citizens participated with individual contributions to
the European Commission copyright consultations, more than 900 of them
in their own native language. You will find the consultation
questionnaire, responses and summary of responses here:
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2013/copyright-rules/index_en.htm
In total, there was approximately 5700 named citizen responses from all
over the Union, and another approximately 2000 responses which are
anonymous and therefore not accounted for in the Commission summary.

I have discussed many times with Julia Reda since last year the
importance of carrying the results from the consultation. I have
discussed and proposed ways of carrying Commission results into a
parliamentary review without having to come across as expressing a
personal opinion ("Acknowledges that... X", "Notes that...X"). I have
additionally expressed that it's indeed difficult to not mention
file-sharing, when the Commission repeats file-sharing no less than six
times in its conclusions, following suggestions by private persons and
institutions. Even if "legalize it!" could not be carried by the
parliament, and acknowledgement that many citizens suggested it
certainly could - the parliament should not argue with things that have
been de facto said, it can only disagree with the implementation of
those things.

The Consultation was complex, and the citizens who participated put a
lot of time into it. Individual citizens who reached out to me when
having problems said they spent a full day working on their responses.
My own response took well over a week to compile. We ensured to have it
advertised in the Czech republic with 5x15 meter billboards spread out
over the country, on popular filesharing, movie-streaming and music
sites in member states where we had access, and other things. I think it
is fair to assume that it will be difficult to get that amount of people
to care continuously over a large number of years about European level
paperwork - for that reason, these individuals need representation in
Brussels. Which is why we have political parties (for instance).

Any PPEU member was welcome to contribute to the copyright consultation,
or indeed to distribute its remarkable results. The PPDE mainpage
advocated contributions for three months. The PPSE newsletter mentioned
it two times. The opportunity to discuss and marvel has certainly been
there. For myself, I find it daunting that the European Commission
actually puts it in any kind of documented form how people express
themselves about copyright in very thoughtful and reformist ways.

An official European Pirates position on copyright has already been
assumed and is included in the ideological statement of the European
Pirates. A euroliquid process would not necessarily have changed or
improved that statement, since the background - up until Monday last
week - was that the European Commission survey more or less showed that
public opinion reflects what is in the European Pirate platform.

I understand the desire to be grown up and serious, but it runs the risk
of feeding into the normal perception of the EU: when the people say
something "wrong", ask again. Then ask and ask and ask until you get the
right answer, or people stop responding, so that what was originally
conceived can be done anyway. I think there is a more genuine structural
problem of democratic deficit of the EU institutions - irrespective of
the Pirate Party - if more than 6000 people can express in a clear and
summarizable way one thing, while politicians pretend something else was
actually said.

best regards,

Amelia

> How have you reached out for the Pirate movement to give feedback?
> Should we have founded a PP-EU Working Group on Copyright to dissect
> these points? Should we have deliberated an official European Pirates
> position on a euroliquid platform that by shameful events hasn't been
> instantiated?
>
> One thing I know for sure is that having one of the last prominent
> figures in the Pirate movement publicly criticizing another of the
> last prominent figures by communicating via the media has been
> exactly the sort of problem resolution strategy that has driven the
> popularity of the Piratenpartei below the surface. Public squabbles
> is seen in the population as the main reason to not take us seriously.
>
> It may seem way too late now, but I would propose to create the
> necessary decisional platform for the Pirate Movement to collectively
> pass a regulation for ALL Pirate Parties to forbid individuals from
> criticizing Pirate representatives via the public media UNLESS there
> has been a legitimate collective process that comes to the conclusion
> that parliamentary XY has been acting outside the Pirate consensus.
>
> What do you think of that?
>
>