Let's make one thing absolutely clear about the Pirate Party of the United States (PPUS): it has no interest in defending your ability to illegally download The Blueprint 3 from Waffles.fm. It just doesn't. If you had the idea in your head that the PPUS would somehow work to legalize your bad habits, well, tough break, kid: it's a legitimate political party whose goal is not to make it so that you can download the latest Lady Gaga release with impunity, but rather to effect change in the more general realm of copyright and governmental transparency. In other words, you may want to lower that skull and crossbones flag you've been flying. This past week I spoke to not one, but two officers of the PPUS. Ryan Martin, the party's Administrator, and Glenn Kerbein, the party's Operations Officer. The conversations were illuminating.