The Pirate Party (A slowly growing political party in UK and Northern Europe) has released it's manifesto, and I think I am changing parties before next election:

THE PIRATE PARTY has announced the details of its political manifesto.

Confusingly, for a political party, a lot of its plans are appealing and reassuring. Even if we are unlikely to ever see them come to fruition.

The Pirate Party will talk about the issues other parties ignore, and it will be free from corruption and scandals, along with lobbyists, party whips, and other interested parties.

It also promises to be neither left or right wing, a bit like the Labour Party and the Conservatives, and wants to give us more rights, and less taxes.

It is in technology though where the party makes its skull and bones. The Pirate Party said that it would create copyright laws and patent rules that were "suitable for the 21st century", and promised to look after both rights holders and consumers.

For example, it proposed that people should be allowed to buy a CD and copy it to their Ipod, something that is currently against the law. Counterfeiting, though, will remain illegal.

Patents too are up for scrutiny, and the party said that they should, "Exist to reward the inventors of truly outstanding ideas, not to allow big businesses to stifle competition with an ever-growing tide of trivial, incomprehensible, overreaching patents."

In order to prevent abuse, the Pirate party will raise the bar on patent approval and ensure that firms prove how innovative their idea is before it is allowed to be patented.

Privacy will also be put under the spotlight, putting those involved in something of a moral quandary. Running at odds with current political thinking, The Pirate Party said that the privacy of the individual should be upheld at all times.

So, while the government, as is, is always looking to increase the amount of monitoring and surveillance it does on its subjects, The Pirate Party plans to forbid third parties from intercepting or monitoring communications traffic without first getting a court issued warrant.

Less is more, according to The Pirate Party, and it said that ID cards will be screwed into a ball and kicked into the dustbin of history. Meanwhile data protection laws will be tightened, making it difficult for companies to keep unnecessary personal information.

Supporting this will be a full review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000, and the first evidence of this will be new laws that prohibit its abuse.

Freedom of speech will be boosted, not least of all when it comes to the use of the Internet. "We believe that the Internet is instrumental to freedom of speech. We pledge to legislate in favor of net neutrality. We pledge that we will not allow government censorship of the Internet for anything but the most extreme reasons," said the party in its manifesto.

But, false claims will be stamped on, particularly when they come from telecoms firms. For example, the party said that should advertised Internet speeds be "false or misleading", then the consumer should only have to pay for the connection speed they receive.

Country folk will benefit from increased rural access, it added.