GM 2011-01-30 minutes

Attendance

 * MikkelPaulson
 * Ayes
 * PassePartouT
 * Rahmenlos
 * rintaran
 * shadowjester
 * SteveHenderson
 * TravisMmmm (left early at 21:00 UMT -05:00)
 * Woofcat
 * AndIrc (arrived late at 20:50 UMT -05:00)
 * RevHelix (arrived late at 20:10 UMT -05:00)
 * frazzydee (arrived late at 21:46 UMT -05:00)
 * trailblazer11 (arrived late at 21:48 UMT-05:00)

Minutes

 * 20:15 Meeting called to order
 * Opening statement by MikkelPaulson regarding format of the debate for Director-at-Large positions
 * No new news
 * 20:18
 * Director-at-Large candidate SteveHenderson given the floor for opening statement
 * 20:20
 * Director-at-Large candidate Ayes given the floor for opening statement
 * 20:25
 * Director-at-Large candidate rintaran given the floor for opening statement
 * 20:32
 * Director-at-Large candidate TravisMmmm given the floor for opening statement
 * 20:38
 * Q&A begins.
 * 20:40
 * shadowjester: "Okay, first question.How do all of you feel about the CRTC's recent usage based billing ruling and Bell Canada's actions regarding their DSL broadband fees?"
 * Responses:
 * SteveHenderson is against the CRTC's actions, and believes that they should be dissolved, as he believes it is a threat to freedom of information
 * Ayes believes that the CRTC's actions are a response to assure the viability of cable networks. He believes that disbanding or reforming the CRTC should be considered
 * TravisMmmm believes that the CRTC needs to be held accountable for its decisions and reprimanded for its ruling on usage based billing, but not necessarily dissolved
 * rintaran believes that there are a lot of parallels between usage based billing for Internet access and electricity access; however, he believes that the people's relationship with information is different than that with electricity, and as such he sees usage based billing as being wrong. As such, he feels that the CRTC needs to be dissolved and an independent commission put in place instead
 * 20:56
 * Woofcat: Three questions:
 * "As the Pirate Party of Canada is a completely a Volenteer (sic) job. What is your current career and how do you plan to balance work, life, and the PPCA to ensure you can meet the demands of the job."
 * "Do you have a plan to increase the ammount (sic) of communication from the PPCA leadership to party members and the public"
 * "Do you have any background or understanding of how Networks between major corperations (sic) are managed or how agreements are formed? Do you consider yourself, well read on telecommunication?"
 * Responses:
 * TravisMmmm places the Pirate Party of Canada as a top priority, and plans to balance it with work. He also feels that the amount of communication between party leaders and the membership should increase, but it cannot get in the way of progress.
 * Ayes believes he has the time to be a larger part of the Pirate Party of Canada. He also feels that there is a disconnect between party leadership and its membership, and that he wants to work to lessen the gap
 * SteveHenderson said that he is actively making time for party involvement, and if elected plans to rework his schedule in order to make time for Federal Council meetings. He also feels that there should be completely open discussion between the party and membership. He stated that he lacks knowledge of telecommunications policy and structure, but that the party should embrace open and transparent communication between members through the use of social media.
 * rintaran stated that he has experience working to bridge the gap between the Federal Council and the membership through accurate transcripts and meeting minutes during his tenure as Federal Clerk. He also stipulated that he pioneered the Clerks Quality Guide, which states clear expectations for minutes and transcripts in order to maintain clarity and consistency of information. He believes that the forums are underutilized by the membership, and that more direct newsletters should be sent. He also feels that an archive of newsletters should be made on the wiki.
 * 21:13
 * MikkelPaulson: "there are rumours of a spring election. if the writ drops within 1 month of your election, what do you plan to do in the intervening time to prepare?"
 * Responses:
 * rintaran believes that our top priority, in any case, is to complete and release our party's platform. Once the platform is finalized more public relations should be completed, with posters, fliers, and brochures posted or sent out, university talks scheduled, and more local events organized.
 * Ayes believes that our platform should be opened and completed up as soon as possible. He also feels that our newsletter should have an op-ed section, or press releases about the party's opinions be released in order to convey elements of our platform.
 * SteveHenderson believes that we should spend time developing campaigns targeting youth and young adults through universities and social events.
 * 21:24
 * SteveHenderson: "My question is how do you plan to structure our platform so that our focus remains on our core values, and isn't dilluted (sic) by efforts that could seperate (sic) the party?
 * Responses:
 * rintaran feels that the current section of the website is not a true platform. He believes that the platform needs to be covered in two sections: long goals, and our objectives. He espouses the use of the SMART principle for the long goals, and short goals to achieve our objectives.
 * Ayes believes that our platform should stay restricted to digital issues and pirate issues. Any extension from those particular topics should be relatable to either of those values.
 * SteveHenderson feels that our platform should reflect our core pirate values, and that we should refrain from getting involved in issues such as military withdrawal and same-sex marriage.
 * 21:39
 * shadowjester: "How do you all feel about Michael Geist's coverage of digital concerns? Would you support his work, or potentially ask if he would get involved in some capacity with the PPCA, even as a topics advisor or an op-ed writer?"
 * Responses:
 * rintaran feels that Geist is both a danger and aid to the party's agenda. He believes that Geist's involvement would be huge, but any correction by Geist of the party's actions would harm our credibility. Also, he believes that Geist overlooks some things or changes his mind on some things too quickly.
 * Ayes stipulates that he is a supporter of Geist's work, and that Geist is a very well reasoned voice on digital issues. Ayes would be open to working with Geist if given the opportunity to collaborate with him.
 * SteveHenderson feels that Geist does a reasonable job covering digital issues, but fails to address intellectual property incompatibilities in a modern age.
 * 21:55
 * Ayes: "How do you feel about the current status of the party, the current leadership, and the current objectives? What do you want to do to change the status quo not just in Canadian politics, but here in the party itself?"
 * Responses:
 * SteveHenderson feels that some decisions made by our current leadership is their strange use of censorship regarding opinions of the membership, citing the Joe Baptista problem. He feels that the party should embrace the position that all censorship is bad
 * rintaran believes that the party is under the belief that it is a larger entity than it is, and that paying members are not actually members at all. He feels that we need more word of mouth, and a better way to get word out, and be a higher profile party.
 * Ayes feels that the inactivity, perceived or otherwise, of the Federal Council is a problem. He also feels that any form of censorship is wrong.
 * 22:09
 * AndIrc: "What plans have you toward making the city you live in, a more "Free Culture" city? Second, why would you be the person for the job, and your city be a good place to focus efforts in that measure?"
 * Responses to AndIrc's question:
 * SteveHenderson stipulated that he has been involved with the formation of the Activist Collective Project in Calgary. He feels that it will raise awareness of the Pirate Party and and free culture movements in the City. He believes that Calgary is a centre for activism as well.
 * Ayes believes that a free culture society is an interesting idea. We should look into creating sharing and collaboration hubs for activists and pirates in their communities. He feels that he is a good candidate because of his current public visibility and his large network of contacts in Vancouver.
 * rintaran feels that free culture is an interesting idea, but the right for someone to live off of their work is also an important thing to consider. He believes that there is a discontinuity between the two ideas. He believes that culture itself should not be free, but that access to it should be instead, through systems like libraries. He also advocates for short copyright terms.
 * 22:31
 * Woofcat: "Seeing as the PPCA's focus mainly is on technolgy (sic) based experts would you oppose the idea of the PPCA getting subject matter experts who could help guide policy? If not how should we attract these positions?"
 * AndIrc: "[rintaran], you seem to endorse a measure of artificial scarcty (sic), is due to a lack of any bettet (sic) idea?
 * Responses to AndIrc's question:
 * rintaran believes in a short-term artificial scarcity in any form in order to allow creatives to enjoy the ability to live off their work. He also feels that combating piracy of these works is the job of the distributor.
 * Ayes disagrees with rintaran over free culture causing a negative impact. He believes that free media is beneficial to artists, and that services providing such will become more prominent in the future.
 * SteveHenderson feels that a five year copyright is unreasonable, and that complete "info-anarchism", as the reality is that there is no real control over the spread of information on the Internet.
 * Responses to Woofcat's question:
 * SteveHenderson believes that the party advocates for an open-source and transparent party, and as such we should welcome all opinions, expert or not.
 * rintaran feels that the party should focus on the general public, but that we should attempt to attract subject-matter experts through discourse and discussion.
 * Ayes believes that we should seek out experts by organizing student clubs at trade and technical schools, assisting unions related to the field, and expand our platform to include the interests of technically-oriented people.
 * 23:00
 * Closing remarks from rintaran
 * 23:04
 * Closing remarks from Ayes
 * 23:09
 * Closing remarks from SteveHenderson
 * 23:12
 * Closing remarks from MikkelPaulson
 * 23:14
 * Meeting adjourned

View transcript.