I'd like to comment on the line "It needs to be drilled into the heads of politicians,"
There was a similar conversation on the Digital Copyright Canada mailing list years ago[1] in which I made my choice. We can try to educate the politicians in a non-partisan manner [which I whole-heartedly support btw!] or bring that knowledge into the system ourselves.
I chose the latter. I do not trust legislators when it comes to technology law; it's similar to letting the Church[2] decide what is or is-not in the realm of Science.
Something else that drove me to the decision: "With knowledge comes responsibility." I'm not saying I'm a subject-matter expert here, but if I don't stand up then who will? Most likely someone with even less knowledge in this area.
Canada was the first Pirate Party to be officially registered outside of Europe; we've lost momentum but that should not be surprising. I knew going in that it'd take years for us to have any serious impact, that there would be more downs than ups during this period, and that generally-speaking it would be rough going. So far, we're right on track.
That said, many people who are aware of us (and even some of our membership[3]) still think we're only interested in getting Entertainment content for free. This couldn't be farther from the truth though - among the "serious" Pirates - those I refer to as "Political Pirates" are far more concerned with naiive/ignorant[4] legislators, legislation and their effects on the public.
Best,
- Scott
[1] circa 2005/06 IIRC - roughly around the time the Swedish Pirate Party was launching. Unfortunately I was unable today to locate a link to the conversation on the DCC website.
[2] I'm not attacking the Church (or any religion) here; I'm just making reference to historical situations - such as the Earth being the center of the Universe - to make the point.
[3] a generalization on global attitudes of Pirates, based on anecdotal evidence I've seen in various Pirate Party-related mailing lists.
[4] again, I'm not trying to be provocative or insulting here.