Cognitive Dissidents

The UK Government have just released their report on piracy - it doesn't make happy reading.
House of Commons - Transport - Eighth Report

Since 1992, there have been a total of 3,583 piratical attacks worldwide. This represents an increase from 1993 to 2005 of 168%. In the same period, 340 crew members and passengers died at the hands of pirates, and 464 received injuries. In 2005 alone piracy resulted in over 150 injuries and assaults and over 650 crew members were taken hostage or kidnapped.

These statistics may appear modest by contrast with the casualties suffered in other violent conflicts. But these attacks were not sustained in a violent conflict. They were suffered by innocent people travelling lawfully by sea. Even one such attack is one too many.

Technology designed to make life safer at sea has been used by pirates to locate and attack ships:

New technology designed to ensure that ships can be located at all times does, in the hands of pirates, has the potential to assist pirates to identify and track down high value cargoes and to attack vessels at sea. We want to know what the UK Government is doing to find out how pirates are gaining access to sophisticated technologies; and what it is doing to help to deny them the use of these technologies.

On the links between Piracy and possble terrorist threats:

Piracy provides a tempting and successful demonstration to terrorists of what can be achieved with relatively straightforward equipment and organisation. Well organised and determined terrorists could take control of a ship and use it to achieve terrible ends. Dangerous cargo could be seized and used as a weapon; the ship itself could be used as a weapon; hostages could be taken.

On the modern image of Piracy:

The popular image of piracy as a joke is redundant and has failed to keep pace with reality. The Government must now consider what imaginative and practical measures might be taken to broaden the public understanding of piracy as a brutal and cowardly crime.

It might be a good idea to encourage people to understand that a pirate is not someone who performs copyright theft , a pirate is not a joke and is not somebody who indulges in copyright violation theft or a spot of P2P downloading.

The report concludes by saying that the UK government is failing in its obligations to tackle Piracy:

What the Government must demonstrate is practical action that international cooperation is succeeding in making piracy a thing of the past. That is woefully lacking. So far from destroying piracy, it is growing; and the Government does not even know the scale of the problem. That is failure by any measure. The Government needs to demonstrate a new level of commitment in tackling piracy.

The Piracy problem has been growing for years unoticed - while the MPAA & RIAA have gone out of their way to brand any copyright violators "pirates" - the public has come to regard Piracy as a joke - meanwhile the Real Pirates have carried out their acivites unhampered.

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Tip of the hat to wtwu Tags: piracy, parllimentary report, uk, mpaa, riaa, copyright violation

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