My name is Lindsay-Anne Brunner, and I'm the Captain of the United States Pirate Party. AMA.

I am Admiral Jhekov, please report to the Poop Deck.

i have but one upvote to give.

Why should I put my vote behind a one-issue party?

Eventually we hope to broaden so we're not just one-issue. That will come in time.

Why vote for us? We're anti-SOPA, anti-PATRIOT and want true transparency and openness of government. We're young, and we're not going to let the government be more of "business as usual."

Have you created any original content, such as a book that I could pirate and not pay you for?

lol.

What's worse is that I have an answer for this: www.nosafeharbor.com Free to download.

Why the name? Pirates usually make people think of thugs, thieves, killers, Johnny Depp, and eyeliner. Not freedom and democracy.

The name "Pirate" comes from the Swedish "Piratpartiet," and THEIR name came from the Swedish Piracy Bureau, the Piratbryan, which was formed all the way back in 2003 by artists and other creatives. It's an attention-getter, for sure, but once we explain to people what we're about, most get it.

Johnny Depp, and eyeliner LOL

So besides the copyright thing, why vote Pirate instead of Democrat or Republican? How do you approach the economy and unemployment? If I'm gonna enjoy less copyright I have to eat, you know?

Why vote Pirate? We're anti-SOPA, anti-PATRIOT, and we want to reform copyright and patents. Think of how long both Republican and Democratic members have protected Big Pharma and the RIAA/MPAA. Should companies like Monsanto really "own" genetic code? Absolutely not, we say. In addition to that, I personally believe that there should be more parties getting in offices, but so many are hung up on red-vs-blue.

We're working on stances regarding the economy and unemployment. However, one of our members is working on a new system called Payright, intended to replace copyright. I took a look at a draft of this some time ago, and it's really good. Hopefully it will be finished soon.

As one of the people who worked on Payright, if I could just clarify: the system will make it a lot easier for independent artists and creative people to make money, which will certainly make it a lot easier for you to eat if you have, say, a BFA or English degree which you have no idea what to do with. That's the connection to the economy.

(I'm Zacqary Adam Green, by the way, Lindsay's second-in-command at NYPP. Hay guys.)

haaai <3

In terms of realistic movements and possibilities, where do you see the USPP at the time of the next election in which there will be no incumbent nominee? On that same line, where do you see the Pirate Party globally at that time?

In 2016, we hopefully will have a few states with Pirate candidates. NYPP is running its first candidate (local office) in 2013.

The Pirate Party internationally in 2016? Hopefully it's a bit stronger in other Eurozone countries and Australia.

Do you have any expectation of running a candidate for president in 2016?

Honestly, no.

Thanks. Your honesty is refreshing.

No, thank you!

Where in NY are you running candidates? As a New York voter, I'd be interested in seeing real third parties instead of the ones that just use the Democratic or Republican candidate (I'm looking at you, "Independent" Party).

In Town of Brookhaven. I just made a few phone calls over there yesterday, actually, and will be getting a nice thick book to read about ballot access.

Do you ever think the seemingly-silly name of your party (though I understand it's semantically accurate) ends up deterring a lot of potential supporters? I feel like the connotations with pirate are either cartoonish or criminal, since it's so often linked to music/movie piracy.

I know the party is pretty subversive in terms of formal, current governments so a lot of the "pirate" imagery is somewhat spot-on, but at what point does it become problematic that it's such a light-hearted term in most mainstream culture?

It may defer some, but only a few.

It hasn't been problematic here, yet, but it would become a problem if people weren't to take time out to actually listen to our message.

What are the major campaign points of the USPP?

Open and free culture, trully transparent and open government, pro-individual (people over corporations, individual privacy), and an equal playing field for everyone.

Would you be willing to elaborate on the "equal playing field for everyone" note?

On a side note, I've been reading Rick Falkvinge's comments on copyright laws, and he has some good ideas. Any comment?

Edit: equal

Gladly: everyone should have the same opportunity for happiness and success. Everyone should be valued equally.

Rick is brilliant. I've had the honor of meeting him twice, and he's truly a visionary. I agree with pretty much everything he's written; I may have objected to something in the past he wrote, but offhand I can't recall which.

AHRRRRR you excited to be here?

Quite. I'm typing my little hands off XD

Because many voters would consider Pirate Party candidates "unelectable" have you given thoughts of endorsing candidates from other parties with favorable views towards patent laws?

That's been in consideration in at least NY.

wouldnt the leader of the pirates be an admiral?

Hey, I didn't come up with the titles. I did object to it, for the record.

I'll be honest, the titles give you less legitimacy than you already have. I would ditch them if I were you.

It was given as a tongue-in-cheek naming scheme.

If you could pick your own title, what would it be?

I would have just gone with chairperson. I'm plain like that :/

yeah. i'm from nyc, how can I join? :D

I know you. You email me right now, kusanagi.chroma@gmail

Please don't fuck it up like Germany did.

I'll see to it that we don't. That whole thing scares the pants off me.

Look, do you really stand a chance to do anything besides take votes away from democrats? I am just asking a practical question. The U.S. is an inherently broken system that ensures two party rule.

We at very least can try and push for change. We would like to see an end to FPTP voting systems, but that's not an overnight job.

What do you say to the people who claim pirates suffer from a bad case of entitlement?

It's not true at all. there's actually been studies showing that pirates spend more on music than non-filesharers. From personal experience, when I can afford it, I've bought every work my favorite artists have done, and I have no problem with (and, honestly, I prefer) meatspace books.

Will you be supporting basic minimum income and similar initiatives?

Right now we do not, but that will be something we will look into. The former Captain wanted to push us into a more Social Democrat position, which was something several people were uncomfortable with.

In what parts of the country do you see the party starting in? I fear it would be hard to get representatives elected in my area.

The more liberal areas appear to have had an easier time, I'll be honest.

I'm a regular chump who likes and supports the pirate party. What can I do to help the party out/spread the message?

I just updated the topic post, but get to us on IRC and we can point you in the right direction, or you can email me personally and I'll set you up.

How does it feel to be a real live pirate captain?

I still have to do the food shopping and the laundry and give my son his beloved milk. It's kind of like that picture of Dave Grohl when he's talking about how his kids don't care that he's in the Foo Fighters, and that "okaaaaay," he'll make them a smoothie, except I'm not anywhere near as cool as Dave is.

I need to get more involved with the party. I have been involved previously with the Utah chapter a few years ago, but life got in the way and I had to stop, I am signed up on the main site though to be notified as soon as we reform the chapter here in Utah. Do we have any indication of when this will happen?

HEEEEY!

We have had some issues with the site, and it's being worked on. I'll see that it's finished soon. but in the meantime, email me: kusanagi.chroma at gmails

How long has the party been around? Being the leader of a small independent party, How do you think the Two-Party system prevents groups like you from taking off and gaining real political positions of power?

USPP has been around in various forms since 2006.

The two-party system polarized Americans; many, many people in the US only see issues in black-and-white.. or rather red-and-blue. If it's not one of those, then people have been conditioned that it's "throwing your vote away." That's the biggest thing for us to overcome in my eyes, but I have faith.

How do you plan on defeating/competing with the two ruling parties?

Has the pirate party thought about making deals with other minority parties similar to what the Democrats and Republicans have?

Lots of hard work and campaigning in State elections, that's for sure.

I know USPP hasn't, but NYPP was in talks with another minor party for a while now about a deal like that. Hopefully something good will happen.

Lots of countries around the world are involved in the pirate party. However, I don't believe the united stated is an official member yet?

Florida Pirate Party is a member of PPI, but not USPP.

Is this the same party that created a stir on reddit a few year ago? Also, how do you think the name of the political party affects its reputation?

EDIT: This is the reddit thing I was thinking of, and I don't think it's the same one you're affiliated with. Nevermind!

Same goals, but I believe that was the American Pirate Party, but both were based off of Sweden's Piratpartiet.

It doesn't effect us as negatively as one would think! We have a pretty good "brand" overall. In September a few people were canvassing in NYC and people stopped when they heard "Pirate Party." "Oh, I've heard of them," several people said. At most, we have some explaining to do, but after that, most people "get" it.

What is your favorite cartoon? as I see you do voice over work.

I haven't had the chance do be hired for voice-over, that was something a friend and I were going to, but sadly never got to do.

My favorite? Sheesh, um.. I loved the older eps of Fairly OddParents, SpongeBob, and pretty much anything on Cartoon Network, ESPECIALLY Foster's.

What do you think about Dean Baker's plan for artistic freedom vouchers as an alternative to copyright?

It's been talked about as a possibility for adoption by us in the past. Personally, it seems good, but I don't think it could solve all problems -- many people who would donate to creative venues/people already do.

what is the pirate partys stance on file sharing, and is this stance at ends (conflicts) with capitalism as we know it today. And if so, how can a pirate party member hope to become a serious contender in american politics where capitalism is supreme and incumbents will argue that consumption is the backbone of our economy and the free market and business must be protected.

We're pro-file sharing, as that is part of the free exchange of culture, and if you think about it, that's actually very pro-consumerism. Businesses may need a new and more modern way to do business, but it doesn't stand much at end with American capitalism.

Would you rather fight 100 duck sized horses, or 1 horse sized duck?

There was an internal bet about how long this would take to show up, lol.

My fiance says to go with the horse-sized duck, because he likes to eat a lot and that could feed him for about 3 days.

haha, awesome answer. Honestly i completely forgot this AMA was today, and it just happened to pop up in front of me on /new, and of course i couldnt resist.

:D