Rick Falkvinge, pirate

In the FRA Aftermath

(Original post published on October 31st, 2009)

Just around Halloween seems like a good time to be talking about the FRA. Even though the law on mass-surveillance governing the operations of the FRA has been passed – for the second time – without even one single MP of the Coalition having voted against [it], we must not admit ourselves to defeat. We must realize that, we now shoulder a herculean responsibility:

We are the last line of defense of the free and open society.

As such, it is imperative that we soldier on. We simply cannot afford to give in. Marie Andersson shares her thoughts on this matter at her blog Opassande (Swedish.)

In the wake of the elections to the European Parliament, we had been asked if we had truly understood the implications of the role we were about to assume. To a certain extent, we had become synonymous to [representing and defending] civil rights. “If you don’t make it into the Parliament,” they said, “the politicians will know that civil rights are largely irrelevant. For a foreseeable time to come, these issues will have vanished from the political agenda entirely.”

It was a heavy responsibility bear. But we did so with pride and strength, claiming two seats in the Parliament, and thus sending a message across. And we must keep at it.

In the latest poll by United Minds, our figure is at 2.1% for the general election coming up next year. This is quite an impressive result, given that we have been largely invisible for three months while recovering [from the European Parliament election.] We know that, when we work together, amazing things can be accomplished.

So, why should we keep going? What difference does it make that, for an example the FRA are allowed to jack in to our carriers, and intercept the communications of anyone, at a time and duration of their choosing? Let me explain with the help of a known book. I have substituted a few words in order to demonstrate my case:

There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the FRA plugged in on any individual carrier was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in to your communications whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every article read, every mail sent, every date agreed to was monitored by the Government.

This piece is from the book 1984, by George Orwell. It has often been used as an example to paint a very dark vision of the future, meant as a warning – not an instruction manual.

(The book can be read in its entirety at Project Gutenberg, Australia, where its copyright has expired.)

The Pirate Party is needed in Parliament. It is not enough to tear up and rework the “FRA law.” The agency has violated whatever trust was there to begin with, and it must be shut down and replaced with exactly nothing, at all. When there is legislation tailored to suit the needs of a specific agency, it has used up its right to exist.

The Finnish Piraattilitto, think tank and lobbying organization, today write that Finland has one month left of secrecy of correspondence. The same applies for us.

[The rest of the post was lost in translation.]