When a new party with a focus on data civil rights entered the state Parliament of Berlin after elections last Sunday, many were surprised—not least the party itself.
The German Pirate Party was founded in 2006 and named as a play on the term used by the music and film industry for illegally sharing copyright protected titles.
Pirates, as they call themselves, believe existing copyright and patent laws hurt users to protect the interests of large corporations. The party believes reforming these laws would benefit society.
The Pirate Party stresses protecting personal data from any privacy intrusions as a foundation of a free and democratic society. It also stands for free access to public information and direct grass-roots democracy.
“Newly created technical possibilities should be used to create a transparent state that serves the people. They must not be misused to create a transparent citizen who has been limited in his or her human rights,” states the Pirate’s website.
Henning Bartels, a freelance author who wrote a book on the party, portrays it as a “civil-rights party with digital competence.”
In Berlin, the party entered its first state Parliament in Germany by taking nearly 9 percent of the vote while, easily crossing the necessary threshold of 5 percent.
During its first press conference, recorded by Phoenix TV, after the election victory, the main candidate gladly stated “we filled a vacuum since the other offers were so bad.”
