An Internet entrepreneur and figure representing the new age of online activism has launched a political party.

Alleged pirate Kim Dotcom has made his entrance into New Zealand politics, with the launch of the Internet Party.

A digital membership drive has been launched over the weekend, trying to drum up willing participants in a political crusade Mr Dotcom says is deadly serious.

“It's certainly not a stunt,” he told reporters at the Internet Party launch.

The man behind former cloud hosting site MegaUpload says recent mistreatment by international authorities and revelations of global corruption has driven him into the political arena.

“The initial thought about it was because obviously the injustice that I have experienced. You know, being spied on illegally, being raided in the fashion that I was, I felt that there's something wrong here,” he said.

“And then out of it grew the idea of creating a political movement, because when Edward Snowden came out with his revelation, I felt that it's time for a new movement where the young people, the internet generation, come together and say well enough of this.”

The Internet Party has just the broad outline of policies at the moment, which will be fleshed out by the contribution of members. Early word says the party wants to create a freer, faster and cheaper internet, building more high-tech jobs and industries while boosting privacy.

“We're also talking about copyright reform,” Kim Dotcom said.

“You know, I think one important thing here is that content providers need to make their content available internationally at the same time.

“You can't have an environment where in New Zealand you wait three to six months before movies are released that are already out in the US. This is an English speaking country. There's no reason why we have to wait so long, and it's this kind of behaviour that encourages piracy.

“So we will put a law in place that tells these content creators, if you release something in the US, you must release it at the same time in New Zealand, and if you don't do that, you are responsible for the piracy, and not ISPs.”

With voting in New Zealand not compulsory, reports say Mr Dotcom will aim his bandwagon at the million unenrolled or unexcited voters who did not participate in the last election.

He says he is confident he will get into Parliament, and has even indicated the possibility of alliances with other smaller factions.