Vote Pirate!: Pirate Party UK issues it's manifesto

The Pirate Party have now launched their manifesto for the forthcoming UK elections.  There are LOTS of good stuff on the list - including tackling many of the UKs biggest shortfalls in building a free and fair society for the digital age....  in the areas of privacy, surveillance, data protection and intellectual property. It's a manifesto aimed at protecing and strengthening the rights of the individual.

Here is the shortform version..

"We will give the public the following new rights:

• The right to share files provided no money changes hands.
• The right to format shift and time shift data. 
• The right of access to government funded data. 
• The right to compensation for government data loss. 
• The right to safely encrypt private data. 
• The right to apply to a court for compensation where data protection laws have been broken.  
• The right for constituents to force a by-election. 
• The right to pay only for the fraction of the claimed broadband speed that an ISP actually delivers. 
• The right to be a whistleblower. 
• The right for photographers and filmmakers to go about their business without persecution under anti-terror laws.
• The right for disabled people to demand an unrestricted version of DRM protected content where that is necessary to allow them to access it.

We will reform outdated laws:

• We will abolish drug patents, replacing them with subsidies. 
• We will reduce the length of copyright to 10 years. 
• We will provide exemptions to patent law for non-commercial use, personal study and academic research. 
• We will introduce system of compulsory patent licensing
• We will reform libel law.
• We will prohibit the abuse of RIPA powers.
• We will remove loopholes in copyright and patent law.

We will protect the public from abuses of new technology: 

• We will forbid third parties from intercepting or monitoring communication traffic
• We will introduce a mandatory warning label on products that include DRM.
• We will introduce laws on the acceptable use of CCTV and DNA samples.
• We will legislate in favour of net neutrality.
• We will introduce stronger data protection laws
• We will not allow government censorship of the internet
• We will put into action the government's Open Source Action Plan.
• We will require the BBC to release all their content under a Creative Commons licence.
• We will prevent the BBC from using DRM technology.
• We will ensure better computing education in schools."

Piratpartiet &; The Pirate Party -  Make your voice heard.