Our goals
Reform copyright and facilitate access to culture
What is the problem?
If we don’t adjust copyright to today’s realities, artists will continue to be limited in their creative expression as well as their ability to make ends meet while consumers will face ever more excessive measures such as iPod searches by border guards.
How do we solve it?
We want to adjust copyright so that artists can better build on previous works and choose the distribution and licensing model that allows them to make a living. We will also help music artists educate themselves about earning money through other means than selling records, for example by performing live shows and selling fan articles and where feasible, we will evaluate the introduction of levies to further compensate artists. In turn, we want to adjust copyright for consumers to make private, non-commercial copying of content legal. This will promote artists and help spread culture farther than ever before.
Reform the patents system
What is the problem?
A patent grants its owner a 20 year monopoly over the use of an invention. In the fast moving software industry, inventions however always builds on previous work. Issuing patents on software therefore exposes all innovators to the risks of major lawsuits. This reduces innovation, meaning that your software will be harder to use and will not offer the features you need.
How do we solve it?
We want to ban patents on software to spur innovation and allow new start-ups to enter the market without the fear of being sued for building upon previous work. We also want to ban patents on life forms and plants since we find the notion of corporations owning the ingredients to life downright unethical.
Strengthen privacy
What is the problem?
As almost all aspects of our daily lives are now affected by digitalization, the possibilities to track, analyze and monitor us by looking at our digital traces grow with every passing day. For example, if privacy is not reclaimed and actively protected, your communication will be recorded and your movements tracked (your cellphone is an ideal tracking device already today) simply because it can be done without effort as technology becomes ever faster and cheaper.
How do we solve it?
We want to extend privacy laws to provide the same protections to all of our digital data that already exist today for non-digital items such as conventional mail. We also strive to ensure that government access to our data is only granted for specific, well-defined purposes and in criminal investigations where probable suspicion can be demonstrated.
Ensure Net Neutrality
What is the problem?
In recent years, several Canadian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have started slowing down certain types of data sent to and received from the Internet by their private customers. These ISPs have stated that they pursue this practice in order to prevent overloading their networks which would negatively impact service for all customers. The issue however arises from the fact that there is little to no public evidence available which proves that this is actually the case and that ISPs are not simply degrading performance so that Internet services which compete with their own offerings are penalized. For example, a telephone company could reduce the quality of Skype calls over their DSL lines to prevent customers from using this competing service.
How do we solve it?
We want to enact legislation requiring all Internet Service Providers (wired and mobile) to offer the same level of service for all applications and Internet services, without discrimination. In other words, we want to ensure that customers get exactly the service they pay for, without exceptions or special conditions for specific services such as Skype or Peer-to-Peer file exchange applications.
Ensure Open Government & Open Access
What is the problem?
In the course of its daily operations, the Canadian government collects and produces large amounts of valuable data. Unfortunately this data is rarely accessible to the public, even though it has been paid for through taxpayer money. For example, results of the Public Service Employee Survey which provides insight into the inner workings of government offices is not made public even though it could inform the public of areas where offices would have to be managed better. This current practice goes hand in hand with the notion of closed doors meetings where government decision are taken out of sight of public scrutiny. With the current practice of non-open government also comes the reality that research results which have been made possible by government grants using taxpayer money, are often not made publicly available either.
How do we solve it?
We see it as our goal to ensure that the government works for its citizens and not vice versa. The Pirate Party of Canada therefore stands for the principle of Open Government. It stipulates that government actions and the data it produced must be made publicly available to Canadians wherever possible, using standardized, open and vendor-neutral data formats. We also strive to guarantee that all research funded by taxpayer money must be made available in the same means as above, thereby ensuring the principles of Open Access. This will help maintain Canada’s cultural and scientific heritage by ensuring equal access to these values for everyone in our society.
