I Am Birgitta Jonsdottir, Icelandic Pirate Party member & Wikileaks volunteer.

How would you describe the current platform and agenda of the Icelandic Pirate Party? How widespread is the support you have received from the Icelandic people? What can we do in the US to increase the popularity of the goals and ideals of the Pirate Party, if this is even possible? Thank you for all that you are doing.

thank you <3 - in regard to increase the popularity for the goals and popularity that is related to the Pirate Party values in the USA, i think it is important for the Pirates of the USA to work more with us in Europe, for we are doing lots of experimentation with liquid democracy and how to plug that into traditional rep governing/serving so that we can move this need for transforming politics through quicker. It is critical that we address issues of the fact that our laws do not reflect the 21st century. I think many people can relate to that. Our platform in Iceland is based on direct democracy, making laws for the 21st century in regard to FOI and expression, privacy, decriminalization of drugs based on the Portugal example from 2000 and to make iceland into a internet friendly country inspired by http://immi.is.

What are your thoughts on Anonymous in general? What did you think back in December 2010 when Anonymous came to the defense of WikiLeaks against PayPal, VISA, MasterCard & Amazon? It is reported that while in the US you will actually meet one of the "PayPal 14" defendants (Mercedes Haefer) who stand indicted in the USA for those cyber-protests, what will you say to her?

Generally speaking I would define myself as a supporter of many of the Anonymous actions. I participated in the twitter day of closing down paypal accounts, brilliant totally legal direct action that had a profound impact in the offline world. I am looking forward to have a meeting with Mercedes and will ask her how I can support her and other Anons that are getting disproportionate sentences and i feel that most of them have not gotten enough attention nor support.

How widespread is the support for the Pirate Party in Iceland and do you have any major supporters within Iceland that someone from the USA would know?

the support for the Pirate Party is growing at a steady pace, according to a brand new gallup pole we have 4,4% support to get elected to the parliament. as to the second question> i dont think so:)

How does 4.4% compare to support for other Icelandic political parties? Is this a significant number?

we are scoring best out of the new parties:) if we crawl over the 5% threshold we get minimum 3 mps out of 63

Thank you for your response! I find the Pirate Party fascinating, so it's very interesting to hear from someone within them. Best of luck!

:)

Iceland has in the last years gained a reputation internationally for being a hub of direct democracy and transparency. A place that stood up the bankers and crowsourced a new constitution. Do you think this reputation is deserved?

yes and NO - a lot of this stuff is misreported. Less than a week ago we had the darkest day of our parliament, where the parliament ignored a national referendum in relation to our new constitution written for and by the people of Iceland. It will be up to the Icelandic people if they will ignore this dark deed by voting for the parties that did this. That is all parties except the only I am a representative for (the movement). We did however pass a great FOIA based on the guidelines in a parliamentary proposal I sponsored in 2010 called IMMI. We have had more national referendum since the financial crisis than in any time in our history. We as a nation managed to stop that private debt from the banks was rolled on the shoulders of taxpayers. This is a long haul, next elections that will take place on the 27th of April will define how awake my nation is and how willing they are willing to ignore lies and promises politicians will never keep and carry on the path of true transformation.

Hi Birgitta! I just heard about the huge dataleak that icij.org has been processing - something like 200 Gb of secret financial transactions through the Virgin Islands - exposing arms traders, fraudsters and wealthy tax cheats. It's exciting!

link?

http://www.icij.org/offshore/secret-files-expose-offshores-global-impact

thanks - that is indeed massive

Are you going to make a stop in Manhattan to visit Jeremy Hammond in prison? He could be spending the rest of his life in prison for hacking Stratfor to obtain files that were, in part, published by WikiLeaks. What are your thoughts on the whole ordeal?

we are working on making sure that he knows that I support him and have not forgotten about him - i dont think i can visit him. I am deeply upset about the heavy handed approach to info activists.

Hey Ms. Jonsdottir,

I worked quite a bit (in the editing room) on the Alex Gibney film about WikiLeaks called "We Steal Secrets," have you seen it yet and if so what are your thoughts?

(She was interviewed for the film, I just don't know if she's seen the final cut of it yet!)

I havent seen it yet. I hope to get a few copies when I meet Gibney at a fundraising for the film Judith Ehrlich is making and is called> OPEN Outlaws and Pioneers of the Electronic Frontier. The documentary features me and Aaron Swartz, and John Parry Barlow and Jake Appelbaum and will be important as a guideline on where to go after WikiLeaks with our laws and response to modern whistleblowing. Join us at the Culture Project @ 45 bleecker NYC sunday 5-7pm http://vimeo.com/48393618

What sorts of threats have you received, if any?

none

Thank you for setting an example of courage for all of us in the United States. Your work is appreciated :)

thank you:)

Are you doing this from Yippie by chance?

no, but i am on my way there around 3pm :)

Neil MacBride, the US district attorney tasked with investigating WikiLeaks (as well as CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou and Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom), has been reported by the Washington Post to be among the top contenders for the position of FBI director when Mueller steps down in September. How do you think this will impact the grand jury investigation, and whistleblowing/transparency in general?

wow this is pretty messed up. I hope that this witchhunt on our internet community will stop. I dont think this is good news for us info activists.

As an MP, do you have any ideas on how the government may respect free speech and encourage it by encouraging independent journalism--not through funding (which is ultimately control, or will come and go), but through laws scrutinizing media monopoly? It's a bit tricky when the government gets involved here, as we know, but how may "an enlightened insider" help encourage the state to "de-propagandize" itself, not through state media, but by watching its ally of corporate media and its state financial breaks? So...how to guard against media monopoly without restricting media? Thank you.

I have been trying to address exactly this issue via this proposal: https://immi.is/index.php/projects/immi and the parliament just passed laws in relation to transparency of media ownership. It is hard to compare Iceland to other countires for we are so few and the monopoly of media at home is so easy to spot. It is up to everyone that uses media how we use it and what demands be put on it for us to carry on using it. Media is transforming and the big media giants havent really figured out a way to bring their control over it yet.

Assange said Collateral Murder helped end the Iraq War. Agree or disagree, and to what extent?

the whole world watched - the pressure was on again, for most had turned a blind eye to the war crimes happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. It did put its waight on the scales to end it. I cant claim it was the ultimate drop that filled the cup but it did help end it. (but is the war really over?, Iraq is in a terrible state)

Aside from the events Thursday and Friday, what do you have in-store this weekend in NYC? I know there are events planned but information seemed relatively scant on the Web. If - theoretically - someone could make it up to NYC to attend one of them on Saturday or Sunday, what would you advise?

sunday event will be worth going to:

http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/pentagon-papers-whistleblower-daniel-ellsberg-invites-you-to-a-bradley-manning-event

Iceland is known for it's support of the "Old Ways", what is your opinion of Asatru? Should I bring a bottle of mead for you tomorrow so as to properly welcome you to NYC? :) Right now we are dealing with one of the first heathens to ever be elected in NYC, Councilman Dan Halloran, having been arrested for corruption (he's a Republican). Are there many Asatruar in the Icelandic Parliament? Are they accepted in career fields like that or are they harassed?

I know the allsherjargodi of Iceland. He is amazing person. I dont belong to any orgnize religion new or old, even if i decribe my beliefs to be heathen buddhist :) there have been some Asatru ppl in the icelandic parliament, there is basically no fuzz about it. There was no fuzz about the fact that our first female Prime Minister is a lesbian for example. We dont get hung up about the same pc stuff that seem to be a trend in the USA. I have studied norse myth quite extensively and made portraits of all the minor and major gods from that religion. I think it is important for all cultures to know their roots and honor them. Mead is the only beer that is drinkable. So I wouldnt say no to it:) thanks.

Off topic, but I am a fan of Icelandic music (Bjork, Sigur Ros). I plan on visiting Iceland, when is the most beautiful time of year to visit?

Summer, easily.

we r peopled out in summer, dont come then. I suggest fall.

Ef það stæði til boða að mynda meirihlutastjórn með einhverjum flokk/flokkum, hvaða flokkar yrðu það? Og hvaða flokkar væru það sem þú myndir alls ekki vilja mynda stjórn með?

við höfum ekki rætt þetta sérstaklega meðal Pírata þannig að ég verð bara að fá að svara fyrir mig persónulega. Ég get ekki hugsað mér að starfa með Sjálfstæðisflokknum í einhverju stjórnarmynstri. Ég get alveg unnið með flestum öðrum:) Í stað þess að horfa svona á myndina. ÞEAS stjórnarmyndunarviðræður þá myndi ég vilja að flokkarnir myndu ganga bundir til kosninga. ÞEAS fara í slíkar viðræður áður svo að fólk sé ekki alltaf að kaupa köttinn í sekknum. Hvað finnst þér?

Thank you for your work. Congratulations on Iceland's new constitution, from which perhaps the US could learn, and innovate its own. CBS Evening News, of our mainstream media of course, reported that Bradley Manning "knew what he did was wrong." (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50141935n) Unfortunately, this type of coverage is how many Americans receive their news--even on what should be an earth-shaking example of the limitations of corporate media, its role in a democracy, and the need for leaks, acts of redefined journalism, and whistleblowers. How may the ice be further chiseled so that the deep ramifications of the acts of Bradley Manning and others, and WikiLeaks, are not drowned in the shallows?

as a community of ppl that care about these issues we have already made a huge impact - just look at how many ppl are using reddit for example. we need to learn quickly from each other, put pressure on lawmakers creative, make the pressure fun, never give in to fear and support each other. the time for leadership to come from above is over. we are now all at the roundtable and above evertyhing - just like this platform we are changing media, the corporate media is not news any more but entertainment.

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Ef ég hefði farið fyrir ca einu ári eða fyrr þá hefði ég verið í raunverulegri hættu. Hysterían í kringum WikiLeaks er miklu mun minni en hún var hjá yfirvöldum í Bandaríkjunum. Bæði lögfræðingarnir mínir hérlendis og utanríkismálaráðuneytið varaði mig gegn því að fara. Ég gerði allar nauðsynlegar ráðstafanir til að minka líkurnar á vesini í samráði við utanríkisráðuneytið. Ég er mjög ánægt með að ekkert gerðist:)

Þakka þér fyrir að vera opin fyrir því að kjósa okkur.

How involved is Julian Assange in the affairs of Wikileaks these days? Do you know him personally?

i think Assange is pretty much WikiLeaks:) to be honest i cant really answer this question. Me and Assange used to be pretty good friends. We hung out for about 5 months while he was in Iceland and did many great brainstorms and important work together.

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Hello...do you think Bildt is ready to pack up and go home? after listening to Justice Stefan Lindskog talk at Adelaide Uni yesterday, he raised the cost(s) to London Met of over 4 million pounds two or three times...with Nye dropping out is it possible a quick ending is being processed? And is it plausible Bildt , who paid for the event at Adelaide Uni, set this up directly to move Nye on?

i dont follow Swedish politics that closely so i cant really comment

So perhaps Im totally out of the loop and very undereducated but umm...are you a pirate? Pirate party memeber...sounds like pirate business and I want in

I am a Pirate - in icelandic Pírati

Sjóræningi*

not really, we are transforming the word from its orginal meaning. So a pirate is not really a sjóræningi but closer to pixels pirate:)

I will be there shortly. I booked my flight here from Kansas City after reading about your visit on RT. Then I nagged you about details on twitter. Hope that wasn't too annoying. Do you think we could talk for a bit if you are there early as I will be?

there will be a few events, i am now being scheduled into series of overlapping stuff today. I think tomorrow will be much better for talking:)

Why do you want to legalize drugs? Do you think it would be wise to have the next generation of Icelanders super-stoned all day long?

i thought they already were

If you were a well informed human being then you'd know that decriminalization does not mean that a whole generation will be stoners.

It has been proved throughout the civilized world that by facilitating accessibility to illicit substances, more young people get addicted and eventually die. I think it is a very sad development to see intellectuals openly accept the non-fact that drugs are good!

As a father, I am not ready to live in a society where my children can easily score drugs from the establishment!!

the people that have replied to you - pretty much approach it the way i do. It is however important to understand that by decriminalizing it - one is simply moving away from having drug abuse in the criminal category to the category where is belongs: health sector. please watch breaking the taboo and lets have a discussion after you see it:)