Respond to the US Government's request to increase enforcement of copyright law.

The United States wishes to increase its enforcement of current copyright laws and is asking for your input. We have included a handy email tool that will allow you to send an email from this site.

(read the full document here) 

The Federal Government is currently undertaking a landmark effort to develop an intellectual property enforcement strategy building on the immense knowledge and expertise of the agencies charged with enforcing intellectual property rights. By committing to common goals, the Government will more effectively and efficiently combat intellectual property infringement. In this request for comments, the Government, through the office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (``IPEC''), invites public input and participation in shaping an effective intellectual property enforcement strategy. This new effort is mandated by the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008, Public Law 110-403 (Oct. 13, 2008) (``the PRO IP Act'' or ``the Act'') which created, within the Executive Office of the President, the position of the IPEC. The Act requires the IPEC to chair an interagency intellectual property enforcement advisory committee in order to develop an Administration strategy for enforcement against intellectual property infringement: The Joint Strategic Plan. The IPEC is currently working with the interagency advisory committee to develop this intellectual property enforcement strategy. This request for comments and for recommendations for an improved enforcement strategy is divided into two parts. In the first, the IPEC seeks written submissions from the public regarding the costs to the U.S. economy resulting from intellectual property violations, and the threats to public health and safety created by infringement. In the second part, the IPEC requests detailed recommendations from the public regarding the objectives and content of the Joint Strategic Plan and other specific recommendations for improving the Government's intellectual property enforcement efforts. Responses to this request for comments may be directed to either of these two parts, or both, and may include a response to one or more requests for information found in either part. 

Article 2.17 Explained (Leaked Digital Portion of ACTA)

I know that many of you have been reading about the secret ACTA negotiations that are going on currently, and we found a leaked portion of those agreements, the section that is probably the most important to us in our circles: The Digital Environment section (Article 2.17). I felt that it was important to you to explain what all this legal talk means, and how it effects you.

2/16's Results

Polls are now closed, and we have two new officers.

For Operations, Glenn Kerbein wins with 14 votes, against Jay Emerson's 5 votes, and 2 abstain/none of the above.

For Promotions, Travis McCrea wins with 11 votes, against Nate Blanchard's 9 votes, and 1 abstain/none of the above.

Congratulations to our new officers!

Iceland to become 'journalism haven'

Lawyers, journalists, and parliament members of Iceland are drafting a series of major laws aimed at bolstering journalism. The litigation in question is hoping to take advantage of Iceland's current economic meltdown. It will create a sort of 'offshore haven' for whistle-blowers and journalists. The litigation will face Iceland's Althing, their unicameral parliament.

New officers and elections on the 16th

Congratulations to our two new officers, Bradley Hall for Records, and Shirley Runyon for Financial! Both were unopposed when the deadline for nominations passed last night, so now they join Marcus and myself as officers of the national party.

On February 16th, we will be holding the elections for the Operations and Promotions positions.

The candidates for Operations are:

Meeting on February 9th

The next meeting will be on February 9th, at 9 PM EST. All are welcome to attend. It will take place in http://tinyurl.com/piratepartyIRC (irc.name141.com #uspirateparty). The agenda for the meeting is http://memwiki.pirate-party.us/index.php?title=2010-02-09

Elections!

Currently, we only have two officers at the national level--myself, and Marcus Kesler, head of the State Advisory Board. Besides the open positions on the SAB, we have openings for the Operations, Promotions, Records, Legal, and Financial officers, and at last count, four willing candidates to fill three of these positions. Jay Emerson is running for Operations, Bradley Rush is running for Records, and Travis McCrea and Nathaniel Blanchard are running for Promotions.

BitTorrent Census

We all know that the United States Census will be in full swing this year, but, another kind of census was just undertaken by a senior at Princeton.
 
Sauhard Sahi decided to take a random sample of the types of files available over BitTorrent networks. His results are interesting.
 
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/census-files-available-bitt...

Meeting called for February 2nd, 2010 8PM

We are holding a meeting on February 2nd, 2010. Everybody is invited to participate. The meeting will start at 8pm Eastern time. The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

Congratulations to Brittany Phelps, our new Administrator!

   Congratulations are in order to Brittany Phelps, in the race for our new administrator. It was a good race, and ultimately both candidates presented their arguments well, and I applaud the effort. Regardless of how you feel about either one, they had both wanted what they felt was best for the party, and that should be respectable to anyone.
Brittany Phelps - 27 Votes - 72%
Jay Emerson - 10 Votes - 27%

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