I am the Pirate Party of New Zealand's candidate for Hamilton East

The Pirate Party of New Zealand is part of the global pirate party movement in 40 countries. The original pirate party of Sweden has 2 seats in the European Parliament, and in the 2011 Berlin state election the Piratenpartei (Pirate Party of Germany) won 8.9 % of the votes giving them 15 of 152 seats in the state parliament. The Pirate Party of New Zealand are unable to contest the party vote this year, but hope to achieve similar results in the 2014 New Zealand general election.

We have a platform of promotion of civil liberties in the areas of information and technology, including liberalising copyright and patent laws, and protecting privacy and freedom of speech, especially in relation to the Internet. We aren’t a single issue party as such, but we are focused on a narrow range of issues. We are concerned that governments are promoting the interests of a small but influential minority in regards to these issues, and we seek to change this. 

Top 5 Issues

1. Copyright reform; Restricting the term of copyright to 10 years, and reducing the scope of copyright so that personal, non-commercial copying is not restricted.
   
   Because we see copyright as a legal restriction and not a moral right, we think it should be up to individual societies to democratically decide whether to implement copyright law, and if so, to what extent. The long title of the Statute of Anne 1709 (widely regarded as the beginning of modern copyright law) describes the statute as being for "the Encouragement of Learning" (British Copyright Act, 1709). Similarly, the stated aim of the provision for copyrights and patents in the USA constitution is "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" (USA Constitution, art. I, sec. 8, cl. 8).
   
   The Pirate Party believes that modern copyright law is more restrictive than necessary to serve this purpose. Non-commercial sharing of cultural works is overall good for society in the same way that public libraries are good, and ten years of virtually unchecked peer-to-peer sharing have not destroyed the creative industries just as home taping and the VCR did not destroy those industries; the music and movie industries continue to announce record profits year after year even through a global recession.
2. Digital Rights Management; or DRM, refers to technological measures that restrict the use of digital works. The Pirate Party are strongly opposed to the use of DRM. We think DRM anti-circumvention law should be repealed. We also think that people should be notified when buying something that's use is effectively restricted by technological measures.
3. Patents; The pirate party are particularly concerned by patents in the areas of software and pharmaceuticals.
   
   It seems likely that New Zealand will exclude software from patent protection, as an amendment to the Patents Act 1953 excluding software has been recommended by select committee and is awaiting parliamentary approval. The Pirate Party are very happy with this result.
   
   In countries with a substantial public health system public funds are used to pay for patented medicines, and these funds are allocated based on priorities determined by the public health system. Patent agreements between countries provide the funding for research done in one country which benefits another. Money to be spent on pharmaceutical research is already determined by governments, and supported by international agreement. Pirate Party of Sweden suggests it might be more efficient for governments to fund pharmaceutical research directly by government grant, rather than indirectly through pharmaceutical patents, and we support this position.

Personal Profile

I was born in Christchurch but my family moved to Hamilton when I was at primary school. I've lived most of my life here and I really don't think there's anywhere else I'd want to live. I'm now married with two teenage daughters.

For as long as I can remember I've been interested in technology. I used to take gadgets apart when I was very young and eventually learned to put them back together. When I was in high school I got my first computer and much later my first modem. I've watched the growth of the internet almost from when it first arrived in New Zealand.  My hobbies are equally geeky. I use the Linux operating system, I'm a licenced Amateur Radio Operator, and I like to assemble and repair computers for fun. 

I'm currently not employed due to health problems but keeping myself busy with volunteer work, teaching basic computer skills and helping people make use of the Internet at a community house in Fairfield.