stories filed under: "europe"
Growing Concern From European Officials Over ACTA
from the policy-laundering dept
It looks like a growing number of European politicians are fed up with the secrecy of ACTA, and don't like what they're hearing from the leaked documents, and they're starting to speak up, asking questions and airing their concerns. They're demanding the publication of the details of the negotiations, while worrying about anything that might push ISPs to kick people off the internet at a time when it's a key European goal to increase broadband access. There's also tremendous concern that ACTA is really a way for US companies to sneak desired legislation into Europe outside of the parliamentary process:"ACTA is legislation laundering on an international scale, trying to covertly push through what could never be passed in most national parliaments"The same statement pointed out that all of the lobbyists who had signed NDAs to see ACTA came from US companies and organizations -- and none from the EU. It makes you wonder why any other country would agree to ACTA at all...
Filed Under: acta, copyright, europe, policy laundering, transparency
EU Has A 'Public/Private' IP Observatory To Watch For Copyright Infringement Online
from the how's-that-work? dept
Bas Grasmayer points us to a blog post by Christian Engstrom, an EU Parliament member (yes, from the Pirate Party) who notes that while he was in a committee trying to address whether or not an "IP Observatory" should be created, he discovered it already existed. The Observatory appears to have been set up not to promote progress or even to make sure that intellectual property was a net benefit, but instead it appears to just start from the unproven premise that of course it's a net benefit, and thus it's only focus should be on stomping out infringement. And, of course, it appears that most participants are actually from industry, with a few "nominated representatives from Member States" along for the ride to give the Observatory a sheen of legitimacy as a quasi-gov't organization, even though it appears like just another industry association. Engstrom finds the whole thing baffling:So much for the involvement of the European Parliament on this issue. We have been invited to hold an exchange of views in the JURI committee, and we are currently spending time on drafting a resolution on if and how the IP Observatory should be set up.Government for the people?
But before we (the parliament) were invited to join the discussion, the decision had already been taken, and the IP Observatory had already been set up and started working. It's just that the representative of the Commission forgot to mention this detail when she was presenting the initiative to the JURI committee.
Filed Under: christian engstrom, eu, europe, intellectual property, ip observatory
Consumer Electronics Firms Fighting Against Copyright Levies In Europe
from the how-far-will-they-get dept
While US copyright law has its problems, one path we have not gone down that many other countries have is the concept of copyright levies on various technologies. These taxes on various technologies, consumer electronics and media storage devices are supposed to "compensate" for any copyright infringement that is done on that equipment (though, it should be noted that, even with these levies, such infringement is still illegal). Think of it as a "you simply must be a criminal" tax. In the US, the entertainment industry has mostly fought against these levies fearing (perhaps reasonably) that they would lead people to think that such copying was, in fact, legal -- or much, much worse, convince a court of that fact (by saying "hey, I paid for it via this levy, thus I should be able to do it.") Still, they do exist in many places, and they generally serve to harm the consumer electronics players by making their devices significantly more expensive. In some cases, the vast majority of the price of certain products is made up of the levy, rather than the price of the product.Over in Europe, they've been fighting about this for years. Back in 2006 there was a proposal to get rid of these levies, but it got shot down due to intense pressure from the collections societies who make a ton of money from them. In 2008, there was even an effort to expand these levies. Copycense points us to the news that in the latest "negotiations" around these levies in Europe, the consumer electronics companies have given up trying to reason with the collections societies, and instead are looking to the EU to put in place some regulations to at least get rid of the worst abuses of such levies that massively hold back the ability of consumer electronics companies to sell products at a reasonable price.
European Rights Holders Drastically Increase Borderline Extortion Pre-Settlement Letters
from the this-won't-last dept
We've covered in great detail how DigiProtect purposely seeds files of content from its copyright holding partners, in order to send anyone who downloads the content a "pre-settlement" letter that seems not very different from the traditional extortion "protection" rackets ("pay us, or we'll sue.") Those who don't pay are actually discovering that the pre-settlement letters may be handed over to collections agencies despite no agreement to pay nor a court order requiring payment. It turns out this shakedown business is quite profitable but of very questionable legality.A new report in Germany is suggesting that DigiProtect and a few similar firms in Europe may have sent out 450,000 such letters last year. Unfortunately, NewTeeVee, in reporting on this, claims that each of these are "P2P lawsuits," but that's not true (and a large part of the problem). Nearly every one of these letters are sent without any corresponding lawsuit. The whole idea is to shake people down by threatening a lawsuit, but never having to go through the expense of filing one (or the trouble of actually proving the infringement -- which is a big deal since many, many, many bogus letters have been generated, snaring many innocent users). But, with little in the way of penalties for such bogus pre-settlement letters, there's simply no reason not to keep sending them. Apparently, enough people just pay up to make this an incredibly profitable business.
However, with the massive increase in such letters, and increasing scrutiny about the whole practice, you have to wonder when European governments will start to crack down on this behavior. It's difficult to see anyone defending these actions with a straight face. They clearly have nothing to do with preventing file sharing or unauthorized use of content, but are very much about just getting people to pay up under the threat of a lawsuit.
Filed Under: collections, europe, pre-settlement
Companies: acs:law, davenport lyons, digiprotect, logistep
European Court Of Human Rights Says Press Can Protect Anonymous Sources
from the common-sense dept
While here in the US, we're still fighting over a federal shield law that will let journalists protect their sources, Michael Scott points us to the news that the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that the media can protect anonymous sources.The Court reiterates that freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and that, in that context, the safeguards guaranteed to the press are particularly important. Furthermore, protection of journalistic sources is one of the basic conditions for press freedom. Without such protection, sources may be deterred from assisting the press in informing the public on matters of public interest. As a result, the vital "public watchdog" role of the press may be undermined and the ability of the press to provide accurate and reliable reporting may be adversely affected. Having regard to the importance of the protection of journalistic sources for press freedom in a democratic society and the potentially chilling effect that an order for disclosure of a source has on the exercise of that freedom, such a measure cannot be compatible with Article 10 unless it is justified by an overriding requirement in the public interest.This is definitely a good thing, and a bit surprising, since Europe has, in the past, often been a bit less protective of the right to speak anonymously.
Filed Under: anonymity, europe, human rights, journalism, sources
Compare The Process Between Engstrom's Internet Bill Of Rights And ACTA
from the which-is-more-reasonable? dept
As a bunch of countries and lobbyists continue to debate ACTA in secret, it's interesting to compare that to an ongoing effort by Christian Engstrom, one of two Pirate Party representatives in the European Parliament, to create an Internet Bill of Rights by asking people what they want. Which one sounds more like government for the people, by the people?Filed Under: acta, bill of rights, christian engstrom, copyright, europe, openness, pirate party, secrecy, transparency
Why Do Canada And Europe Copyright Money?
from the questions,-questions,-questions? dept
We've discussed in the past the odd idea that any government should be able to copyright anything it produces, but plenty of governments still do maintain things like "crown copyright" or other similar concepts for content they create. Yet, it looks like some countries have gone one step further. They copyright their money. Yes, Michael Scott points us to a blog post from an American law professor, Eric E. Johnson, who was on a trip to Canada and was surprised to discover that they have copyright notices on their paper currency. Of course, this should make you wonder: if you counterfeit some Canadian money are you also on the hook for copyright infringement violations? Or is there some other reason for the copyright notice. Are they afraid other nations might copy the design without compensation?Finding the whole thing bizarre, but remembering that I have some Canadian currency from my last trip there, I checked -- and, indeed, in tiny print in the lower right-hand corner, there is a copyright notice. And then... bonus. Tucked in with my Canadian cash was a 5 euro bill as well... and it also appears to have a copyright notice on it right at the top in the center (though, it's tiny). I did a quick search, and indeed, it appears that the design of the euro is also covered by copyright with specific limitations on copying. Of course, I thought that was what counterfeiting laws were for -- so why even bother with copyright?
EU Parliament Pressured By France, Removes Clause That Bans Kicking People Off The Internet
from the ah,-regulatory-capture-at-work dept
With France passing its new law to kick accused file sharers off the internet based on accusations rather than due process, you may wonder how that could possibly square with the EU Parliament's position from earlier this year that no one should be kicked off the internet without due process, and should only be allowed in "exceptional circumstances." Well, it looks like the lobbyists and the French gov't put enough pressure on the EU Parliament that it's now ditched that clause, even though 88% of Parliament agreed to it the first time around. Forget gov't for the people, the EU Parliament has shown that it's now the gov't for an entertainment industry that doesn't want to innovate. Sad. In the meantime, we're back to asking the basic question that no one in the industry ever answers: how will kicking fans of your content offline make them want to buy anything? It may get some to stop file sharing, but it won't make them buy. It seems the industry has become so confused that it actually thinks stopping file sharing is more important than making money.Filed Under: eu parliament, europe, human rights, internet access, three strikes
