The Cybersecurity Directive: Pirate’s angle

Network and Information Systems. NIS 2. The almost forgettable title hides major and crucial changes in the field of European Cybersecurity. After a year of work and negotiations in several parliamentary committees, we managed to put together a document that updates the Union’s resilience against cyberattacks. As Pirates, we played in this process our role and managed to get a few of our priorities into the final text.

Parliament's new report: Europe's biggest response to disinformation?

We have built up defences against conventional threats, it would be a fatal mistake to fall asleep to hybrid ones. The new report of the Special Committee for foreign interference shows that the European Parliament is fully aware of this - perhaps also due to the situation in Ukraine. Will there be breakthrough legislation on the horizon?

Nobel Peace Prize Nomination for Julian Assange

For being a symbol of protection of our democracies’ core: freedom of speech, freedom of press and the ability to scrutinize our leaders without fear. And for inspiring all potential whistleblowers.

Babiš deepfake video viewed by over a million people

Over a million people have seen the new deepfake video showing fake Andrej Babiš warning against disinformation. The video was the secret culmination of the #TruthHurts campaign.

The elderly initiative For Yourself is not another distasteful election campaign; for the first time, we are giving a real platform to the elderly

The Czech Internet is flooded with tens of thousands email chains filled with disinformation. Surveys show that the absolute majority of Czech citizens have encountered these emails, and many have even sent them on. Most older people also rely on the email as their main means of communication. In my Truth Hurts campaign, I focused on disinformation tools and tactics such as social networks or new technologies. I also decided to cover the email chain phenomenon, to help the most frequently targeted groups.

“I’VE BEEN DISINFORMED!”

Do you remember our deepfake article? As part of our #TruthHurts campaign, we have decided to make a video that would illustrate this issue directly. What is it about? A fake of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš warns the public of new disinformation technologies.

From the 50 Cent Party to Spamouflage Dragon: how China conducts online propaganda wars

At the onset of 2010’s, massive protests shook the Northern African and Middle East regions like it hadn’t occurred in a long time. In what would be later dubbed Arab Spring, autocrats trembled at the sight of ferocious citizens demanding decent standards of living and a rupture from the miseries of the past. From Tunisia to Egypt, from Syria to Bahrein, the youth took on the streets to oust long-lived regimes; and it did so by making intensive use of social media.

Information Warfare

The digital information sphere is becoming the main military battleground. Great Power competition is shifting more and more in intensity and scale into the digital world. The reasons for this are manyfold.

Disinformation and beyond: how the virus of QAnon spread to Europe

Gathering galvanized proselytes on popular image boards and online platforms, the QAnon quasi-religious conspiracy theory has eventually made its way to Europe. But what exactly is QAnon and why should it matter to us?

Luck of the Irish Puts All Europeans in Danger

Global internet companies move to Ireland for many reasons. For one it has some of the EUs lowest corporate tax-rates and all kinds of legal tricks to lower them even further. Ireland benefits immensely from these companies. Apple recently won an appeal against the European commission that would have forced it to pay Ireland almost 13€billion in back taxes. What was so bizarre about this ruling is that Ireland was very happy to have lost this windfall, because it makes more money by companies moving to its jurisdiction with the knowledge that they will save billions in taxes. Equally, it boasts a well-educated English-speaking population and one unbeatable advantage, the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC).