Platform
The West Virginia Pirate partially adopts from the United States Pirate Party platform. Considering this is a state party, WVPP is focused on topics related specifically to West Virginia and counties within. The party is still new, and the platform will be ever evolving.
The effective Platform may be found directly at https://wvpirates.org/platform/
Quality Broadband
West Virginia's rural areas are lacking in broadband. West Virginia's rural, town and city areas are also lacking in broadband quality. There are few choices for some citizens, leaving competition low to non-existent and pricing insensible. Unnecessary equipment fees, major downtime and artificial bandwidth caps need consistent addressing.
Internet service providers and cellular carriers alike should offer services accommodating residents, not profits. Bandwidth caps (how much of your Internet you may use per month) are mostly artificial, hindering accessibility, creativity and general recreational use.
Frontier has been courted by the Federal Trade Commission[1], by West Virginia for advertised speeds[2], and for numerous other things[3] such as outright misuse of funds and lying on reports[4]. In 2019, according to WV Record, Frontier has cost West Virginia five million dollars[5].
Right to Decline
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Extensive modem fees
The average cost of an adequate, up to date modem ranges from one hundred fifty dollars to north of three hundred dollars. A typical Internet service provider in West Virginia will charge a "rental" fee of five to fourteen dollars per month. At fourteen dollars per month to lease a gateway is a total of three hundred thirty-six dollars in two years, more than enough to stop charging. There's no reason to continue charging people after a reasonable price has been met.
Restricted gateways
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Net Neutrality
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Say NO to bandwidth caps
We use the Internet differently today. Its services have expanded, applications have grown larger and more people in the household make use of the Internet.
A downloadable game has the possibility of ranging from 1 gigabyte to 100 gigabytes, but most AAA (read top grade) game titles average[6] 4 gigabytes to 100 gigabytes. If ten games were downloaded being 100 gigabytes each, a Comcast bandwidth cap would leave you with only 200 gigabytes remaining.
Video streaming services also take up a considerable amount of bandwidth transfer. According to Netflix, ultra-high definition or "4K" will use 7 gigabytes per hour[7]. This leaves the possibility of one person averagely[8] consuming[9] 21 gigabytes of data per day or 630 gigabytes per month.
Bandwidth caps are wholly unjust.
Let's work together to create positive, cost-effective, reliable and privacy-enabled solutions for West Virginia.
Transparency
Government affairs should be transparent and for the people. Open meetings[10], recording public officials[11], Freedom of Information Act[12] requests (including leveling the associated costs) and more, West Virginia Pirate Party looks to keep and strengthen these rights.
Accessibility
There are some parts of West Virginia which are simply not accessible in regard to those with disabilities. West Virginia Pirate Party looks to help keep accessibility to a maximum for those with disabilities and the elderly. Working together to address shortcomings and find opportunities.
Defending Your Privacy
Citizen privacy is of the utmost importance and rightfully citizens should have the ability, options and education on how governments and corporations are handling data. Citizens should have the right to expunge data from corporations.
Advertising
Bigotry
As one of West Virginia Pirate Party's core values is being accepting of others, bigotry is simply frowned upon.
- ↑ Company failed to deliver DSL Internet speeds for which consumers paid and were promised https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/05/ftc-sues-frontier-communications-misrepresenting-internet-speeds
- ↑ State reaches landmark $160M settlement with Frontier Communications https://www.wvnews.com/theet/news/local/state-reaches-landmark-160m-settlement-with-frontier-communications/article_a544bc8f-5d74-513e-84d6-2c1883db0ea4.html
- ↑ Frontier Communications Caught (Again) Ripping Off West Virginia Taxpayers https://www.techdirt.com/2017/06/23/frontier-communications-caught-again-ripping-off-west-virginia-taxpayers/
- ↑ https://www.oig.doc.gov/OIGPublications/OIG_Report_No_14-0480_West_Virginia_BTOP.pdf
- ↑ West Virginia should recover money from Frontier's improper actions https://wvrecord.com/stories/513036523-west-virginia-should-recover- money-from-frontier-s-improper-actions
- ↑ How Much Hard Drive Space Do You Need for PC Gaming? https://www.makeuseof.com/how-much-hard-drive-space-pc-gaming/
- ↑ How to control how much data Netflix uses https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87
- ↑ We’re Watching Billions of Hours of Netflix https://www.tvinsider.com/933154/netflix-statistics-quarantine-viewing-habits/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_consumption
- ↑ §6-9A-3. Proceedings to be open; public notice of meetings https://code.wvlegislature.gov/6-9A-3/
- ↑ §62-1D-3 https://code.wvlegislature.gov/62-1D-3/
- ↑ CHAPTER 29B. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/29B-1/