Net Policy

The digital revolution has changed social and economic structures throughout Europe; free and equal access to the Internet is now a basic requirement for participation in civil society. Citizens should have the option to access the Internet anonymously.

Pirates wish to include the right of “digital participation” in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. We will support measures which seek to ensure the capacity of representative civil society to participate in multi-stakeholder forums. We will oppose any attempts by corporate, governmental or intergovernmental agencies to take control of Internet governance.

Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of a democratic society. It must not be placed in the hands of private corporations or algorithms. The decision to remove content shall be reserved to an independent public body such as a judge.

Online intermediaries should not be liable for actions of their users. The use of automated upload filters to detect and block “terrorist content” or copyright infringements online should be banned, because they frequently lead to the deletion of legal content, including documentation of human rights violations in conflict zones, and they impinge on users’ rights to use copyright exceptions such as quotation or parody.

Net Neutrality is crucial for keeping the Internet free for everybody. We will not allow any traffic restrictions. Namely, restrictions based on the nature of the content/service. We will also not allow restrictions based on the geographical location of the broadcaster and the recipient. Traffic management measures shall only be allowed in exceptional circumstances, operated in a clear and transparent manner and only for technical reasons.

Pirates strongly support the Europe-wide development of state of the art communications infrastructure. Our goal is to provide access to broadband for everyone in the EU.

While networks are improved and modernized, any monopoly over infrastructure must be avoided.

Commercial social and messaging platforms are well known to spy on their users, to help advertisers manipulate them and to censor online communications. When leaving such platforms, Pirates want users to have the right to take their contacts to an alternative service and keep in touch with them. Social and messaging platforms need to be made interoperable.

With the Internet of things, computers start affecting the world in a direct and physical manner (e.g. car or hospital technology). IT devices that are insecure and vulnerable to integrity and availability threats increasingly risk our lives and property. We can no longer afford security disasters happening regularly.

Pirates want users to have control over the technology they use in their daily lives. Users need a right to modify and repair devices on their own.

Pirates want to oblige commercial manufacturers of IT devices to provide regular updates for a reasonable period of time. If updates or fixes of vulnerabilities aren’t provided within a reasonable timeframe after their discovery, commercial manufacturers shall be held liable. When a manufacturer decides to abandon a product that is still in widespread use, the source code and development tools should be made public to allow the community to maintain it.

Public authorities shall be obliged to disclose vulnerabilities they find or acquire. There shall be no backdoors in encryption technology as that would weaken and threaten the integrity and security of all systems.

We will support legislation aimed at securing the possibility of transferring personal data from one Internet service to another and maximizing interoperability between different Internet service providers.