MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - The Pirate Party of Russia has offered NASA the use of its dedicated servers to temporarily host the US space agency’s website as it has been shut down “due to the lapse in federal government funding.”
NASA was supposed to be marking its 55th birthday this week, but the US space agency gave furlough notices, not birthday invitations, to nearly all of its 18,000 employees, and began fretting about future missions as funding dried up with the US government shutdown.
“We would like to offer you bulletproof collocation or dedicated servers on our hosting platform till the end of the crisis,” the Pirate Party said in a statement posted on its website Thursday.
“We stand for Internet privacy, and as the result you would not have to worry about programs such as PRISM and other illegal activities of secret services of different countries. Your traffic, your activity and the activity of your users will be in safety,” the statement said.
The Pirate Party, founded in 2009, is active in Russia as a public movement, but the Justice Ministry has refused to register it as a political party, claiming that the name “pirate” is a reference to a criminal offense.
It claims representation in 48 regions of Russia with 5,000 applicants and at least 30,000 supporters. The stated goals of the party include promoting e-democracy, the freedom of information and the protection of personal privacy.
The party reportedly operates on a monthly budget of 6,000 rubles ($200) and a dedicated grassroots effort.
