The HackThePromise Festival took place again from October 3–5, 2025 in the city of Basel, Switzerland. The theme this year was “Hacking Systems, Hacking Futures.” As usual, numerous Pirates were in attendance, including PPI´s alternate board member Schoresch Davoodi who spoke at the event and took pictures for us. https://hackthepromise.org/ The festival interprets “hacking” as not only about computers. It means breaking open systems, rethinking […]
Stop Killing Games
Pirate Parties International supports the Stop Killing Games Initiative. Let people keep playing the games they bought! Provide gamers basic consumer rights. Give clear notice before shutting down a game. Offer refunds when access is removed. Provide offline play or patches when servers close. Be transparent about data use. Protect game history and preservation. Recent commentary by a Youtube games vlogger named “Pirate Software” misstates […]
Reviewing the “Convention against Corruption” in Vienna
The following is a comment from PPI’s main representative at UNOV, Kay Schroeder, who recently tried to attend the United Nations “Convention against Corruption” (UNCAC) in Vienna. “This week, the “Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption” has begun in Vienna. Unfortunately, I cannot attend, as civil society is barred from participating. Nevertheless, I would like to share my thoughts […]
Pirates ♡ Memes!
Meme culture is great! Pirates love memes. Memes help people share ideas and jokes. But some greedy corporate content creators attack those who create memes. They sue individuals who create memes with no profit intention whatsoever. We must fight back against this! One clear case happened in Germany: https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article256383242/internetphaenomen-carlsen-verlag-verbietet-conni-memes-und-verschickt-abmahnungen.html Fans made memes of the children´s book character Conni. The publisher sent cease and desist letters. They […]
Hack The Promise Festival Basel 2024: Reflections on Truth, Uncertainty, and the Digital Society
The Hack The Promise Festival in Basel has firmly established itself as a pivotal platform where international experts, activists, and engaged communities come together for interdisciplinary discussions on the social, political, and technical challenges of digital transformation. The 2024 festival revolved around the theme “fact/fake/fiction,” exploring how truth, fiction, and manipulation increasingly intertwine in digital spaces and what this means for democratic societies. At last […]
Reviewing PPI´s Participation at the Internet Governance Forum
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) just ended, and PPI was lucky enough to host a workshop and have several representatives on site, together with our colleagues from PPEU. We have participated in this event for numerous years consecutively and view this forum as one of our main avenues to influence transnational governance on an issue that is very important to us, the Internet. This was […]
Escalating Conflict in the Middle East: A Call for Peace and Diplomacy
We at Pirate Parties International (PPI) observe the recent escalation between Israel and Iran with profound concern. Israel claims to have launched preemptive strikes targeting Iranian nuclear and military facilities. However, the Netanyahu regime is already engaged in a devastating war in Gaza, and its military actions appear driven more by the political survival and legacy of his leadership. The international community deserves clear evidence […]
Reflections from the 34th Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Side Event at UNOV
Last month PPI’s United Nations Office at Vienna main representative Kay Schroeder attended a side event co-hosted by Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime during the 34th Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The event focused on the use of neurotechnologies in criminal justice. PPI is closely monitoring these conversations out of our concern that overzealous institutions will use these […]
PPI Fundraiser for IGF
Dear Friends of the Pirate Community, PPI is heading again to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), this time in Norway. The IGF is a UN event that brings together a large number of governments and non-profit organizations. PPI has attended the IGF for about 10 years now. As part of our effort to attend the event, we are conducting a fundraiser to collect up to […]
Why is UNOV important for PPI?
Over almost a decade of UN activities, we have consistently attended events at the UN Headquarters in New York and the office in Geneva. Around 2019 we sent a few delegates to Vienna, but COVID ended most of our activities. This year we are making a new emphasis to network and lobby at UNOV, because a lot of very important global policies that are important […]
