An Open Letter to the Ambassador of Germany in Australia

The Pirate Gazette

An Open Letter to the Ambassador of Germany in Australia

An open letter to his Excellency Dr. Michael Witter, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Government in Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Nauru.

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

I write to you with regard to events that have transpired on Friday, the gravity of which have led me to question the democratic integrity of the Federal Republic of Germany.

On Friday morning, May 20, German law enforcement officers seized the information technology and communications infrastructure of the Piratenpartei, a legal and officially recognised political party. The seizures have transpired irrespective of the fact that the Party is not suspected of any illegal activity.

Media reports suggest that the seizures have occurred as a result of investigations by the French law enforcement organisations into an alleged distributed denial of service attack, an event which itself occurred several months prior to the seizure. French investigators are of the opinion that one of the servers, which provides collaborative services and tools that may be used by the general public, may have been used by an individual or individuals in the planning of the alleged attack. Indeed, it should be noted, that we as a party also use services provided by the Piratenpartei which were affected by these seizures.

German law enforcement officials have not however, seized only the server in question, but instead all servers used by the Piratenpartei for communication and organisation.

The gravity of this situation in where a legal and officially recognised political organisation is paralysed in itself is deeply troubling. It is however compounded by the fact that this event has transpired two days prior to elections which are being held in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, in which the Piratenpartei is participating.

The seizure of essential campaign organisation and planning infrastructure is expected to severely hamper and paralyse the electoral campaign of the Party.

Both the timing, in its proximity to the election in the State of Bremen in relation to the investigation of an event that transpired some months ago, and the sheer enormity of the seizure of the entire organisational and planning infrastructure, where only a small amount of data located on a single server is required, raise significant concerns about the political impartiality of German law enforcement officials and the sanctity of democratic institutions and processes.

I write to you to pose the following questions: will an inquiry be held regarding the actions of German law enforcement officials, with regards to their proportionality and whether they have interfered with the rights afforded under Article 21 on the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany?

What undertakings will the government of Germany take to ensure that such interference in the political process does not occur again?

I thank you for your time, and look forward to your response.

Kind Regards,

Rodney Serkowski
President, Pirate Party Australia

An Open Letter to the Ambassador of Germany in Australia

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 06/08/2011 - 09:44.

Could you please publish an answer ? If any?

No Answer

Submitted by Rodney Serkowski on Sat, 15/10/2011 - 08:18.

Unfortunately the Ambassador has not replied to our letter at all. This is not entirely unexpected, but very disappointing.

Thanks for your support!

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 07:13.

Dear Pirates from Australia!

Is a member of the German Pirate Party I want to thank you for your support!
The seizure of our infrastructure by the authorities is intorable. Considering the upcoming elections in Bremen the political motives behind these actions are obvious.
But thanks to the fantastic work of our IT department the
websites of the German Pirate Party are now online again.

Christian Sänger
Pirate Party LV Saarland

Thanks for your support!

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 07:12.

Dear Pirates from Australia!

Christian Sänger
Pirate Party LV Saarland

thanks and infograph

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 07:00.

Thanks for the support and the great letter.

Here’s an infograph on the happenings, for those who are not informed well yet and everyone else:
http://kcode.de/images/misc/pp-down_overview.svg

Thank you for the support

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 05:34.

Thank you for the support from Down Under. Keep up the good work.

A proud Pirate from Bremen, Germany.

Andreas70

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 05:01.

Geil! Das nenne ich support!
Danke + beste Grüße

Great! Thanx :)
Greetz Andreas70

misspelling

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 03:04.

attack, and event which itself

should be

"attack, an event which itself"

gone

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 03:00.

> have led me to question the democratic integrity of the Federal Republic of Germany.

me too, but not only since recently... I left Germany to live and work in Australia. I don't plan to go back to Deutschland... ever.

> have led me to question the

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 20:49.

> have led me to question the democratic integrity of the Federal Republic of Germany.

>> me too, but not only since recently... I left Germany to live and work in
>> Australia. I don't plan to go back to Deutschland... ever.

LOL! How did you miss you miss the scandal around the animal rights trial, in which vegans who share out leaflets were charged with terrorism in Autstria?

Thanks

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 02:53.

Thank you for your support to my favorite party in germany.

At least let ma answer you one of your questions. There will be most likely no inquiry. As many times before they will use the bureaucracy to stuff it in a folder and declare it as overreaction of a lawyer and that's it.

Thanks

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 02:53.

Thank you for your support to my favorite party in germany.
At least let ma answer you one of your questions. There will be most likely no inquiry. As many times before they will use the bureaucracy to stuff it in a folder and declare it as overreaction of a lawyer and that's it.

Thx Australia!

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 02:27.

Thx Australia!

Thank you for your support

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 01:39.

Dear Australian Pirates,

Thank you for your support.

If any Australian Pirates come to Germany, local German Pirates will surely love to hear from you.

The German Pirate Party will participate in this year's Christopher Street Day Parade in Cologne, Germany on Sunday, July 3rd, 2011. In last year's Christopher Street Day Parade almost one million people applauded the Pirate Party's participation.

Our fellow Pirates from abroad are very welcome to join the German Pirate Party in this year's Christopher Street Day Parade and to share with us the overwhelming experience of be celebrated by almost a million people in the streets of Cologne. If you are a member of any Pirate Party worldwide and you happen to be in Cologne on July 3rd, 2011 then we would love to hear from you and to have you with us. We'll participate with a 7,49-ton truck and a group of Pirates on foot. The truck can transport up to 20 pirates in case somebody can't walk the whole 5 km distance. The Parade usually goes at a very relaxed slow speed so nobody should have a problem making the distance.

Please feel free to send me an email if you have any questions: mikenolte@piratenpartei-nrw.de

Best regards,
Mike Nolte
Pirate Party Cologne, Germany

Dr. Twitter?!

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 01:23.

Are you sure that their was no letter omitted in thame of this exilency?

Thanks

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 22/05/2011 - 00:59.

Clear and precise summary,
the necessary questions asked.
Our System fails to translate physical law to virtual facts.
It feels like the obvious sane standpoint is a starting position in a bargain about future "internet laws", where oftentimes existing laws would make clear what is right and wrong, provided police and judges understood what issues they are dealing with.

Thank you!