Posted on 08/18/2009 4:14:48 AM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out
The Pirate Party, a political group which hopes to legalise internet filesharing, has attracted a huge number of new members since announcing its plans to contest seats at the next election.
Andrew Peter Robinson, the leader of the Pirate Party, said they had been flooded by enquiries from people who wanted to join the group. At its peak, he said, around 100 people an hour were signing up to become party members.
"It has exceeded all expectations," he said. "Put it this way – donations have been coming in so fast that PayPal were concerned we were a fraudulent site."
The Pirate Party was recognised as an official political party in the UK on July 30. The group has a presence in 37 countries, including Sweden and Germany, although all parties operate independently. However, they have some common aims, including campaigning for reforms to intellectual property and copyright laws, particularly in the digital space.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
The “Pirate Parties” popping up across Europe are indeed not bad. Their focus is on individual freedom and against Government censorship, spying and databases.
Don't bet on it. Their basic demand is for free stuff. What's next on their agenda after free downloads?
Ok, they sound reasonable so far... Maybe they’ll become a youth libertarian movement in Europe. They could use one.
A pirate walks into a bar and orders a shot of whiskey.
Bartender: Do you know you have a steering wheel sticking out of your zipper?
Pirate: Aye! It’s drivin’ me nuts.
AXXO for President! (if you are not aware of AXXO don't ask)
“Yo ho ho and a bottle of....BitTorent?”
The wonderful feeling of doing something positive to assure one’s future has taken hold. Key strokes and Paypal have come together to produce a cloud that claims to be a revolution.
Similar ecstasy of purpose failed right here on Free Republic as just such a revolution died of laziness and apathy.
Free people should be able to ‘share files’ but that isn’t what this is really about. They want to specifically share files which contain the intellectual property of others and not honor those rights. They want ‘free’ stuff.
Phil who? .. exactly.
Phil Katz invented the .zip file we all know and love and, the program -- 'PKZIP'.
But he gave it away free - 'freeware' (file sharing) and died a pauper in 2000.
ROTFL. Never heard that one before.
Phil Katz was a proven thief who stole code from SEA. The theft was so blatant that it even included the original source code’s comments (spelling errors and all).
His company made millions! The reason he died a pauper is as follows:
“Katz led a very troubled personal life and battled alcoholism for years. The earliest known arrest occurred in 1991. About a year later, Katz was again convicted of drunk driving. Between 1994 and September 1999, Katz was arrested five times for operating after suspension or revocation of his license.”
As a follow up on his death:
(extracted from Wiki and other sources)
“On April 14, 2000, at the age of 37, Katz was found dead in a hotel room with an empty bottle of peppermint schnapps in his hand. A coroner’s report stated his death was a result of acute pancreatic bleeding caused by chronic alcoholism.
Before his death, Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Department had several outstanding warrants against Katz, including Operate While Intoxicated, Operate After Revocation, and Bail Jumping”
Condor,
Please don’t take my post on Katz as an indictment of private property rights for intellectual property.
I suppport intellectual rights.
I was solely making a point about Katz and why he died poor.
I have always remembered this case because many companies used to send PKZIP the shareware money.
The fortune 500 company I worked for in the 1990s sent $10 PER seat for PKZIP
Here's something funny.
A couple years ago I was told by an MS Tech to get a Bootleg Copy of Windows XP.
Long story short - I had a MAJOR problem (crash) and the OEM version of my XP wouldn't fix my problem. I needed a 'Store Bought' version of XP that had a 'certain function' on it. He told me to get one 'any way I could', then call back for instructions.
Just the MSM version that came out when he died. Made him sound like a White Knight (or very dumb). They focused on him giving away PKZIP for free and that's why he died poor.
I don’t know anything about how MS licenses are configured but it could be possible that the license you had for your OEM copy covered you for the ‘store bought’ version as well, and the remaining task was just to acquire the code. Seems odd they would have any differences between the OEM and store bought versions anyway.
From what the MS Tech told me, and searching a gazillion MS Tech support web-pages, there is (was) a difference in 'some' OEM versions of XP and a 'Store Bought' XP. It was something like 'mirroring' copies, or 'cloning'(?) and a 'master' Admin Password. Hard to remember that far back now.
For instance a Dell, or HP OEM version of XP, would have that special section I needed but a Sony and mine, Systemax, wouldn't. This little 'sub program' was so you could get to your Registry after a crash by booting from the CD.
The bottom line was even with the Bootleg copy I did get and access that sub program section when I booted from the CD, I still couldn't fix my problem. I had to reformat my HD and reinstall everything from my OEM Win XP pro CD anyway.
The whole problem started when I downloaded XP Service Pack 3. It so happens that's for an Intel processor. Mine is an AMD and SP3 creates a conflict that you have to get into your registry to fix. (MS still hasn't corrected this conflict with AMD processors)
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