The Pirate Party's sole current MEP has drawn up a report for the European Parliament proposing reforms to copyright law.

For the European Union to adopt these reforms would be a substantial step forward. However, they fall far short of what is needed to make copyright tolerable.

In particular, they fail to establish the right to share copies (noncommercial redistribution without change). They shorten the copyright term a little, but leave it lasting an absurdly long time. The weakness comes at the root: the report accepts unjust treaties that we need to eliminate, such as the Berne Convention, as well as the World Trade Organization that must be destroyed for other larger reasons as well as copyright.

As a matter of practical politics, this may be the best one could hope the European Parliament to pass, or perhaps more than it could pass. However, Europeans, and especially parties such as the Pirate Parties that stand for the freedom to share, must demand far more reduction in copyright power, even if they cannot achieve it now.

This makes it especially worrisome that this report was drawn up by the Pirate Party's sole MEP.

The fact that it was written by her does not make it any better or any worse than if someone else had written it. However, soon she will have the responsibility to say that the report's reforms are inadequate. Will she be able to say that after having written it herself? Or has she in effect allowed herself to be co-opted by the establishment?