I think that you are absolutely right here, and I actually never heard this particular point before. Many other arguments for keeping "Pirate" in the name are also valid and reasonable.

However, in terms of actually getting the votes to make a change towards pirate politics, I still (and have always thought) that the name is unfortunate. I only have anecdotal evidence, but in my experience, the name puts many people off from voting Pirate. It seems, perhaps not surprisingly, to lead people to think file sharing, rather than human rights protection. The name "Internet Party" is no better, though.

I have no better propsal for the name, but I really think that another name would make a difference when it comes to gaining the average Joes' and Janes' respect, which would make more people actually listen to what we pirates say.