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.
Protecting Freedom of Expression Online
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 block content online should be banned, because they frequently lead to the deletion of legal content, including documentation of human rights violations.
Net Neutrality
Net Neutrality is crucial for keeping the Internet free for everybody. We will not allow any traffic restrictions. Traffic management measures shall only be allowed in exceptional circumstances, operated in a clear and transparent manner and only for technical reasons.
Upgrading of Net Infrastructure
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.
Unlocking the Net: A Right to Interoperability
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. Interoperability obligation for messaging services under the Digital Markets Act shall be extended to social networks.
Security in the Digital Era
With the Internet of things, computers start affecting the world in a direct and physical manner (e.g. car or hospital technology). Devices and tools 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 to oblige commercial manufacturers of devices to provide regular security updates for a reasonable period of time. If fixes of critical security 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 must 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.