Tag: pirate party

CCDP: TL;DR – A quick summary

8 April 2012

As Andy Robinson, the founder of the Pirate Party said: "This story looked for all the world like an April Fool's joke: Labour's plan for a massive surveillance programme that would dwarf anything dreamed up by the KGB, brought back to life by its opponents?" You may not have heard but the Tory and Libdem […]

Please help kill ACTA on Saturday

9 February 2012

You may remember that a few weeks ago there a big outcry because Wikipedia blacked out for the day because of a proposed American law called SOPA which, due to the US's federal influence on the internet, would have had a chilling effect on websites you use everyday – Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube would have […]

The Pirates: Just a political party for a certain age group in Sweden?

4 February 2012

At Learning Without Frontiers Conference, Keri Facer, Professor of Education, Manchester Metropolitan University said: …in Sweden we have the first political party, that, if you like, is allying itself with a particular age group – the Pirate Party. I don't think this is true. I mean sure, in Sweden there's a political party called the […]

The 5 best, anti-SOPA protest songs

17 January 2012

So with the blackout of Wikipedia, Reddit and everything, Rick Falkvinge got me thinking. If the iconic singer songwriters of the labour movements were Arlo Guthrie and Billy Bragg, who are the iconic singer songwriters of the Digital Rights movement? I'm genuinely interested if you have a suggestion. To help you consider the question, here […]

Bright New Future for UK ICT Classes?

11 January 2012

In response to School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme and Michael Gove to scrap 'boring' IT lessons I'm very pleased with Michael Gove's announcement on scrapping the existing 'Information and Communication Technology' curriculum. I think this is a great  step forward for young people and technology, and has the potential to increase […]

Free speech means believing in the freedom of speech you don't like.

4 October 2011

I don't often agree with Noam Chomsky, but this quote is spot on: "If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don't like. Stalin and Hitler, for example, were dictators in favor of freedom of speech for views they liked only. If you're in favor of freedom […]

Pirate Party Germany Scores Historic Win

19 September 2011

Originally posted on the Pirate Party website. Tim Dobson – Pirate Party UK Education Spokesperson: On Sunday I was in Germany watching the Pirate Party movement making history again. The Pirate Party entered the Berlin State Parliament, gaining 14 seats after polling almost 9% of the vote. At the same time the liberal FDP, a […]

A moment from the PiratenPartei campaign in Berlin

16 September 2011

I have spent all day with the German Pirate Party campaigning, in Berlin. This is a moment towards the end of the day when we walked up to a SDP campaign point and started talking to all the people they tried to flyer. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJnL5yrjNWQ A moment from the PiratenPartei campaign in Berlin Music from Mikuláš […]

An Englishman in a Pirates' Berlin

15 September 2011

Today I am in Berlin. Capital of Germany, and according to polls, soon to be one of the latest homes of the Pirate Party. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rQmAma8rj1E Almost as soon as I stepped out of the train station, I started noticing the distinct Pirate flag logo on the posters attached to lamp posts. Outside Sweden the German […]

Eric Schmidt's criticism of UK education

27 August 2011

In the week that teenagers received their GCSE results, Eric Schmidt has lambasted the UK education system, and I find much to agree with him on. The UK has a proud past of scientists and technological pioneers – the first computer wasn't built in Silicon Valley, or somewhere in China, but here in Manchester. However, […]