Activism
Activism

Pirate Party of Israel is Running in October 2026 elections

 The Pirate Party of Israel is back on the ballot! Israel is a very contentious country, featuring a vast range of political ideologies. The Likud party under Netanyahu has held onto power for much of the past decade, during which time the country´s citizens, institutions and image have suffered tremendously. The country has a very fragmented multi-party political system, and fringe parties routinely catch on public sentiment and win seats in Knesset (Israeli parliament). The country went through five national elections in just over three years, from April 2019 to November 2022. A list must receive at least 3.25% of votes to get into parliament, making the threshold a formidable …

Report from the Frontlines in Ukraine

The following is a report from PPI Board member and representative from the Pirate Party of the Netherlands, Mark Anthony van Treuren about his observations during humanitarian missions in Ukraine. Report on my travel through Ukraine Over the past four years, I have travelled to Ukraine many times to deliver humanitarian aid. Normally these trips are straightforward: I drive directly to a storage facility, unload the supplies, spend a day or two with local volunteers and then return home. This journey was different. A group of Ukrainian musicians invited me to drive them between performances in several cities across the country. They perform Noise music—an experimental and often controversial genre …

Reviewing the 2026 Tübingen Digital Freedom Days

We previously wrote about the Tübingen Digital Freedom Days in Germany, a conference held from 15 to 17 May 2026, the fifth such conference. Several Pirates participated in this conference and have asked us to provide an update about the speeches that were made there. The conference included more than 50 talks and workshops. About the 2026 Tübingen Digital Freedom Days Digital empowerment in uncertain times Borys Sobieski, a former chair of Piratenpartei Deutschland, presented Inclusion in Digital Projects. His practical talk explained how accessibility is often overlooked in open-source projects and showed how relatively simple changes can make digital projects easier for more people to use. Eva Wolfangel, an …

EU Chat Control

Licking the envelope closed is now mandatory! The old Dutch ‘briefgeheim’ (confidential letter) meant the postal service (and by analogy social media platforms) could not open and read letters. But there were conditions. Postal cards like those that you sent from your holiday location were plain, and openly readable. Those were exempt. That is the current situation for messages online now that the EU has again weakened the ePrivacy directive. The encripted messages that we send are confidential, the others are potentially accessible to anyone. We have to lick the envelope closed, use encryption, for our personal communication to have them private again. As a result of the void in …

Celebrating June 6th as Edward Snowden Day

We recognize June 6th as Edward Snowden Day in commemoration of when the news he provided about the top-secret Prism was first revealed to the world. We hope this day will not focus on the negative aspects of surveilance states but will symbolize a day for digital human rights, privacy, and freedom. We are both celebrating Edward Snowden as a person as well as the meaning of what he revealed and helped us protect, our digital freedom. We honor all of those, like Mr. Snowden, with the courage to speak the truth about a system that still exists today. Thirteen years ago the world learned that the surveillance state is …

Age Verification Enforcement Concerns

Many pirates have been writing about the growing global movement to enforce age verification on social media and other online forums. We thus started asking our communities for feedback on this issue. This blog outlines the reasons for our concerns. We outline a number of studies and media that document the issue. PPI will continue to monitor this situation and attempt to submit statements at the UN and other international forums to block age verification enforcement. Australia now leads with the world’s first national social media ban for children under 16. In January 2026 France formally passed a law to restrict minors under 15 from accessing mainstream platforms, necessitating age …

Call for Speakers Open for the Think Twice Conference

Fill Out The Call for Speakers Form Here The Think Twice Conference (TT5) AI & Governance: Opportunities and Risks for Digital Freedom Date and Location: October 16–17, 2026, Brussels, Belgium Call for Speakers Deadline: Extended Until June 1 The following is the sign-up sheet for those interested in presenting at TT5. The Think Twice Conference brings together diverse voices to discuss emerging issues in technology and society. The conference takes place on a semi-annual basis in different locations around the world. This year’s theme focuses on artificial intelligence and its impact on governance and digital freedom. When TT4 took place in Prague in 2022, AI was absent from the agenda. …

Finally an easier way to hand over our data directly to Trump!

The White House has released its very own mobile app. Now, instead of your information being harvested indirectly through obscure third-party trackers, you can simply hand it over directly. Is this just an April Fool´s Day joke? Unfortunately, it is not! Read all about it: https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/03/new-white-house-app-delivers-unparalleled-access-to-the-trump-administration The app promises updates straight from Trump himself. For that extra dystopian touch, you can also use the app to submit tips to immigration authorities with their get in touch feature. It also requests extensive permissions, which ensures that you can and will be tracked as thanks for your participation. The US government is essentially trying to skip the social media middleman, so they …

Report on the 69th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), Vienna

The 69th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) took place from March 9th to 13th at the United Nations offices in Vienna. The event was structured into plenary sessions, side events, and a number of mostly closed meetings. Representing Pirate Parties International, Lilia Kayra Kuyumcu and Kay Schroeder attended the session and followed the discussions closely. Overall, the atmosphere throughout the week was generally polite and friendly, and at times even a bit funny. The first three days were particularly crowded, with a noticeable drop in attendance toward the end of the session. This shift gave the later days a calmer and somewhat more relaxed tone. Plenary The …

Statement on the Taliban’s New Penal Code

Pirate Parties International continuously aims to protect basic human freedoms globally. Too often we gaze at the countries where Pirate parties exist, mostly in the developed world. However, we strongly believe that Pirates have a duty to examine problems around the world and attempt to garner international concern. Hopefully we can make a difference! The issue we want to share with you regards the Taliban’s new Criminal Procedure Code in Afghanistan. A full copy of the 59 page law has been released. The Taliban’s new Criminal Procedure Code legitimizes slavery and entrenches oppression! We encourage the international community to read it for themselves (link to the full text on the …

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