Pirate Party’s Innovation, Science & Economic Development Critic Proposes Open Internet Policy

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

PIRATE PARTY’S INNOVATION, SCIENCE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CRITIC PROPOSES OPEN INTERNET POLICY

Red Deer–Mountain View District, Alberta - November 4, 2021 - The Pirate Party of Canada’s Innovation, Science & Economic Development Critic and former candidate Scott Milne has announced the party’s first policy for this new term of government. The policy to create an open internet includes the following proposed actions:

* Reject Bell’s appeal to cabinet against CRTC ruling 2015-326 meant to prevent big telco like Bell from limiting competition and monopolizing the internet fibre network.
* Upgrade the undersea transatlantic telecommunications cable from Newfoundland to more direct European locations.
* Repeal laws that are anti-privacy and compromise the security and privacy of business data.
* Promote Canada as a data privacy safe haven and attract businesses worldwide to setup their data centres here.
* Support non-profit co-operatives that provide fibre-to-home for university, research centres and libraries.
* Keep spectrum under government ownership to be leased out to private for-profit organizations.
* Ensure Sasktel and other non-profit co-ops across the nation get the required spectrum needed to expand their network if they remain a non-profit entity.
* Support Sasktel fibre-to-home Infinet or similar community owned initiatives (e.g. rural co-op like O-net.ca) across the country if they remain a non-profit organization.
* Use Saskatchewan as a testing ground for a next generation high speed network if the provincial government agrees to keep Sasktel non-profit.
* Create laws to allow government to take back auctioned off spectrum if it is used for anti-competitive non net-neutral means.
* Launch infrastructure bonds to pay for information infrastructure projects without raising taxes while avoiding or minimizing deficit. Investors will receive interest payments that would otherwise go to foreign or for-profit banks. In addition, once a project is completed, a share of the revenue for the first 5 years gained from the leasing out of this infrastructure to some for-profit companies will be awarded to bond holders.

Category: Economy, Internet.
for this entry.

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>>>Pourquoi le Parti Pirate?<<<

Why Pirate Party?

1. Open Democracy

One of our main founding principles was Open Government. This means an Open Data policy with proactive disclosure and free access to government data. This will allow anyone to scrutinize and catch any error, negligence or corruption early on. Open Government also means increased transparency, and giving constituents real voices. This can be achieved with electoral reform .

2. Mincome / Basic Income Guarantee (B.I.G.)

Unemployment and income inequality is on the rise and we risk a breakdown of social cohesion without a system for resource distribution as we face increased automation. We're shifting from a bureaucratic culture of constant work-demands to a culture of passion, joy, and learning for the sake of learning.

Mincome will lead to cost savings and create a sustainable economy. See our press release for how that can be achieved.

3. Autonomy and Decentralization

We believe that the world works best when individuals are making informed decisions. It is our goal to get all information to all people, so they may be more informed voters, consumers, participants, and teachers. We do not need to force information culture & the hacker ethic onto people we can simply allow them to choose access. We believe the right to choose our identity, name, and appearance is inalienable.

4. Copyright and Patent Reform
Copyright and patent's main purpose was for propagation of culture and innovation. Our current copyright and patent laws are continuously being corrupted due to lobbying by copyright and patent monopolist. These monopolist refuses to innovate and provide wider access and pass on the savings from the new lower distribution cost. Instead the copyright and patent terms keeps getting extended to benefit the few to the detriment of the public interest. The opposite should happen. Copyright and patent terms should be shortened since our new information infrastructure (i.e. the internet) have brought us cheaper and faster means of distributing media contents and information. Mandatory licensing, owner's rights to a non-DRM product, open access to research data and shorter copyright term are some of the natural changes that is needed if we want to create a more open and progressive society. This will ensure future artist and innovator are not hampered by patent and copyright gatekeepers who uses rent seeking law for anti-competitive purposes.

Human beings increasingly have a moral duty to share information with one another. Libraries are stuck in the last century, enforcing artificial scarcity on digital content. If libraries were upgraded for the modern age, we would no longer need filesharing. And let's face it, watching and listening to whatever you want to is fun. It breaks down arbitrary global borders of access and creates a global culture defined by people- not by corporations.

At the Pirate Party- we believe more information leads to better decisions. We believe that more voices leads to better compromises. We believe in Canadians.

Our democracy need a serious upgrade and Pirate Party aims to change politics to the way it should be.

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