Treasuring IP: free culture, media piracy and the international pirate party movement

This chapter concerns the emergence and growing popularity of the international pirate party movement. We survey critical approaches to the phenomenon of piracy, consider the usefulness of this concept in discussions of digital practices commonly labelled ‘media piracy’, and discuss the role of the pirate parties in opposing conflicts around these practices. Contrasting the international pirate party movement with the historical figure of the maritime pirate, we approach the modern-day pirates through Christopher Kelty’s concept of the ‘geek’, which describes individuals motivated by the desire to preserve their ability to use digital tools for the sharing of information.