[Ayes]

Hey! You- Smart guy. Pst. Hey. Read this.

The New Committee That Will Rule, Guys
At the December 19th meeting, I am moving to create "a committee to explore the feasibility and potential of interconnecting politics and technology in dynamic ways". I would very much like it if we could create this committee. And I would also like it a lot if you joined once it is started. I know my proposal is a bit wordy, but it was how I could best articulate it at the time. I am only human, after all.

Politechs -or- Technolitics
I think the most interesting thing in the world is when politics and technology interact. It's more or less why I love the pirate party. It's why I am a supporter and fan of wikileaks. I think as time goes on, the mingling of tech and politics will bring about great positive change. I have had a lot of ideas on how to make politics and technology have a baby, and I want to share them. I also want to encourage you thoughtful fellows to come out and share your ideas on how to trick these bad boys into breeding. In addition to that, we may tackle other issues related to our core platform.

What is to be done by this Group?
I want to start a private group of resourceful and intelligent pirate party members to explore possibilities, work together in a positive and motivated atmosphere, and do research on the possibilities of this new digital age. In time, after discussion and many re-writes in the pirate pad, we will release reports on our findings. Although the atmosphere of the forum will be light and posters will be encouraged to share even the craziest of ideas, or joke around at their discretion, our reports will be taken very seriously.

Why Bother?
In the coming years, I think it will be beneficial to synonomise PPOC with great things. Something that I find great is people using technology to make the world a better place. Seeing as we are a political party with a technology related background ( I admit there is more to us than that- but it's my favorite part ok! ) I think it would be appropriate for us to have a behind-the-scenes council who is attempting to use real-life data and out of the box thinking to provide blueprints for a cool future. The best reports (after passing rigorous editing by our fine pirate experts and political experts) could be issued in press releases, or be used as interview fodder to keep up PPOC visibility. If it goes well, there is the potential that we could collaborate with members of other Pirate Party's to create alternative platforms, share knowledge, and work together for a better tomorrow. And other great positive stuff like that.

What Kind of Reports, Tough Guy?
These are just ideas, so they may be used for threads but not necessarily official reports.
- The potential for direct democracy via the internet.
- Digital Dissidents
- Hypothetical Political Web Applications
- Linux and/or open source public office computing
- CSICleaks.ca and/or other governmental uses of emerging technology
- Social Effects of File Sharing
- What is good about file sharing
- What is bad about file sharing
- How to motivate people
- More! Whatever our smart crew of cool dudes can come up with!

So how about it folks? Anybody want to lend a hand? Do you guys think this is a good idea?

[Brosiah]

This is a good one. This is one of those good ideas. Both the technological and political communities are relatively insular and fixed in their ways, and this could be a great way to break out from the narrow grooves left by other political bodies. Even if the ideas proposed are fanciful or impossible to practically implement in the near future, they provide goals for us to move towards and a public forum in which we can discuss the radical ideas that could make the Pirate Party a valid choice in a world that is pretty quickly outpacing Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. Cool idea, mang.

[Steve Henderson]

 This is a really good idea. PPC would benefit from a think tank-type committee such as this. I would be on board.

[SoupPal]

Yeah guys,
I feel that I represent a large portion of the pirate party because I don't ever really comment and am a tad intimidated by all the lengthy commentary about specific stances on specific issues.

I like the idea of a place where I could contribute without upsetting any politicians, while reserving the opportunity to potentially upset some politicians, away from the PPOC platform guidelines.

So much change is held back by people concerned about image and upsetting voters and lobbyists. It seems to me like this would encourage voters and politicians alike to contribute ideas without anybody taking issue to how it fits into their platform, and therefore making room for people like me to chat more comfortably. It makes sense to have something like this; it's such an efficient way to move forward. Obviously a political party has to have concern over their image, but this is a very good way to hypothesize without making the overall face of the party seem unsure. Not that the face shouldn't change, because change is  great.

Anyways, I love the idea of government and people just chattin on the internetz. Check out how ugly this website is. http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/index.asp?language=E

[doconnor]

As a party of the Internet, by the Internet, for the Internet I think the Pirate Party is ideally suited to explore the potential of the Internet and Politics. Already we are well ahead of the curve with out monthly IRC meetings, but we have only scratched the surface of the potential.

The invention of the printing press transformed government of kings and nobles into the democracy we have now. I believe the Internet is an even more important invention and the changes that will occur in the coming generations will be even larger.

Digial direct democracy is something I've been thinking about for some time.