Public Submissions to U.S. Special 301 IP report ends February 7 February 3, 2014 · by Michael Wartenbe · in Pirate Topic What is Special 301? When Intellectual Property protection was pushed into trade rules, the U.S. created a unilateral policy of enforcement. Every year the U.S. Trade Representatives rate every country’s level of Intellectual Property protection, such as creating law to punish file sharing or making sure the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) gets its money. If a country is deemed to have weak enforcement, then the U.S. can pressure them to adjust with the threat of sanctions or removing what is known as “Generalized System of Preferences”, which …

Public Submissions to U.S. Special 301 IP report ends February 7 February 3, 2014 · by Michael Wartenbe · in Pirate Topic When Intellectual Property protection was pushed into trade rules, the U.S. created a unilateral policy of enforcement. Every year the U.S. Trade Representatives rate every country’s level of Intellectual Property protection, such as creating law to punish file sharing or making sure the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) gets its money. About Michael Wartenbe I am a Florida native and member of the Florida Pirate Party. I currently live in Miami where I am working on a PhD in international Relations. I became interested in the Pirate …

La Fin de la Neutralité du Net n’est pas une Surprise janvier 31, 2014 · by Michael Wartenbe · in Amérique du Nord, Pirate Topic Cet article est également disponible en: Anglais Récemment la neutralité du net aux États-Unis pourrait avoir finalement rencontré un muravec la décision de la Cour d’appel fédérale de Washington d’abolir la capacité de la Federal Communications Commission (FCC) à faire respecter les règles antidiscriminatoires et d’antiblocage aux FAI. Le réseau a légitimement exprimé sa crainte et son anxiété sur le fait que les FAI ne manqueront pas d’exploiter cette opportunité d’augmenter leurs profits en limitant la vitesse des sites internets qui ne paient pas, réduisant …

Study Finds File Sharing Helps Small Films September 16, 2013 · by Michael Wartenbe · in Pirate Topic Within the debate of the rights of copyright versus our privacy and freedom lies another debate, examining whether file sharing is even a danger to the industries. The MPAA offers an undoubting “yes”, forming the basis for its endless take down requests and attacks. Some scholars agree with the MPAA’s sentiments, while others do not. Digging a little deeper, however, researchers at the Munich School of Management and Copenhagen Business School argue these contradictory results are due to treating movies as a homogeneous unit and find interesting results when dividing movies based …

Ethics of File Sharing – The Shallowness of Most Accusations September 4, 2013 · by Michael Wartenbe · in Pirate Topic Those who are open to others about their file sharing are keenly aware of the criticisms that are thrown at us, many times without much thought. Some of the more emotional accusations even equate us with pirates, a term that was easily adopted as a symbol of freedom and liberation from a monopolistic, elite royalty. The remaining criticisms are flush with their own lack of thought as can be seen with a simple analysis. What follows is an examination of the anti-piracy accusations of morality, legality, and “health of …

Digital Goods as a Public Good August 26, 2013 · by Michael Wartenbe · in Pirate Topic The Pirate Parties have an obvious lineage from The Pirate Bay and other forms of digital piracy, but bootlegging and sharing of media has been going on for decades. What is it then that has changed with the advent of digital media? Why has the concern of piracy become a political one? The answer lies in media digitization, and thus transformation, into a public good. A public good is commonly defined as one that is both non-excludable and non-rivalrous. The importance of digital goods is media becoming non-rivalrous—meaning one person’s use of the …

What is the TPP? (The Big Brother of ACTA Explained) August 23, 2013 · by Michael Wartenbe · in Pirate Topic Currently under negotiations is an expansion of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership, a Pacific orientated trade agreement composed of Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore. Eight additional prospectives have joined negotiations for membership, which would expand the agreement to Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the United States, Vietnam, and possibly Japan. As suggested by proponents, once finished the Trans-pacific Partnership (TPP) will have implemented liberalized economic and trade policies throughout the Pacific coastal members. As with all trade-blocs, however, there are grave concerns over democracy, transparency, and privacy, with …