Coalition of 90 Euro-parliamentarians block record industry's 3-strikes/no-broadband proposal
Danny sez, "Last year, Euro Boing Boing readers wrote and called their MEPs to complain about European Union proposals advocating Internet filtering and blocking on behalf of the music industry.
Not only were the amendments voted down, but now ninety MEPs from across the political spectrum have tabled a new text which condemns IFPI's plans to exile from the Net anyone they accuse three times of file-sharing:"
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise that the Internet is a vast platform for cultural expression, access to knowledge, and democratic participation in European creativity, bringing generations together through the information society; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access."Among the advocates of the new language is Michel Rochard, the former Prime Minister of France. That's significant because present French PM Sarkozy is the only Euro leader currently seriously considering implementing IFPI's three strikes plan. With this kind of opposition, it looks like France might remain an anomaly, if it doesn't abandon the plans entirely."
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Just another reason to move to the EU, I guess.
One of the many, I might add.
Actually he is called Michel Rocard (sorry im a typo nazi).
and he's regarded as one of the brightest economical pundits in the european parlement, raising very interesting issues into debate, and a great voice in structuring modern europe, socially and economically.
Of course, we almost never hear about him in France, as even his old party (socialist) just disregard anything which comes from the european parlement, but thats another story!
Glad there are still some french politicians we can be proud of.
I'm just a nazi.
"french" should be capitialized - as well as "european", possibly "socialist.... "parliament" not"parlement".apostrophe in "im" as well as capital.... wait a minute, you're having me on!
Takuan, it is much to early to be that funny. Tone it down, at least until I have had a cup of tea!
PS: You added an "i" somewhere.
PPS: Should it be "Nazi" not "nazi", or is it still considered an acronym (in which case, should it be "NAZI")?
and I should try to catch up on some sleep.... hey there Deepos! just pulling your chain, pray continue(I shouldn't harass first time posters like that)
"it looks like France might remain an anomaly"
isn't France usually the "swing state" of world politics?
I'm a member of April, the French association for software freedom, and we are in close contacts with the administration around this.
First of all: they have no idea how they're going to implement this crap. They are genuinely clueless. The project bill is constantly changing, it's clearly unworkable both technically and legally.
They have to jump through legal hoops to make this crap not a legal sanction: because otherwise it would infringes on rights to a fair trial and so on. So in effect if you are to be a victim of this system, it will be for "failing to secure a computer system", not for copyright infringement! Even so, it is unlikely to stand up to any legal challenge at the Constitutional Court, or at the European level.
Technically, obviously, this thing is not going anywhere. They obviously believe the antivirus software vendore BS, that you can actually secure a Windows PC. This thing is going to be false positive galore. I can imagine the PR disaster once the first granny is accused of downloading copyrighted hiphop. You know how we handle these things here? In the street. Heads will roll.
In the mean time, what you have is typical of what you'd expect from Bush-wannabe Sarkozy: his administration is choke full of incompetent, technologically inept buddies of his, hired for their connections, not their skills.
Three strikes and your out.How many people actually play baseball in Europe? Perhaps less Americentric wording and this Bill would go through?Continental types tend to be rather picky about these things!
Sarkozy is the French president, not PM. Unfortunately...
Sorry, I'm pretty new with this issue and probably missed some good answers in previous posts. If there is no filtering to prevent file sharing, what is to prevent a culture of "Free" music from killing the music industry? I'm not even sure that's a valid premise, only that I know people take what is free and will not pay for something they can take. But that's in my world, and that might not be true across the board. Are honest people that common? I would love to think so. I know if I could download free chocolate I would. Why buy anything when it's free?
What is to prevent a culture of Free music from killing the music industry? Nothing. That's the idea behind the Creative Commons "share alike" license (by-sa).
Would that be a bad thing? Probably not.
(I've no idea why you'd consider Free music to be dishonest; as long as it's the artist putting the music in, not somebody else against the artist's wishes, what's to be dishonest about?)
You will note a similar culture exists in computer software, with programs like Firefox and Apache being available freely for all.
Jeff @10
You are using false logic. Just because file sharing might kill the music industry DOES NOT MEAN that filtering is a viable solution in ANY WAY. Further, what the record industry was suggesting was not filtering but actually taking away a person's access to the internet.
I think most people would agree that musicians should be compensated for their work.
But what we're talking about here is a bone-headed proposal that won't help anyone and is almost impossible to actually implement.
Music seems like a special case because it's so easy to share. Software is too, but there seems to be enough legitimate use to countermand the free stuff or pirate stuff. I don't know what the answer is, that's why I'm asking. How does the music industry protect its products? Is it counting on honesty? I doubt it.
Why should they get to protect their imaginary property? Whenever technology has made actual real life people obsolete, after a bit of luddite grumbling, everyone got on with progress. Losing their jobs in the process as those peoples voices didnt count.
Now technology has made a highly profitable industry obselete, and just look at them scream. Pulling every trick in the book to have the law changed in their favour.
Well too bad, you are surplus to requirements.
Yer Maw, perhaps you can give me an example? What makes the music "imaginary property?" How is the value of a piece of music changed just because it can be digital? Is that like saying it's easier to take, so it shouldn't have an value? Is that like saying: $20 bills are easy to print so we should, because they have only "imaginary" value? Which they do, of course. Don't all things have "imaginary" value?
It seems like the general irony of the file-sharing debate (that file-sharing actually allows artists to find audiences they normally wouldn't have) is even more amplified in Europe. I'm from Bulgaria and I know that a lot of the "hip" artists (read indie rather than major labels) aren't even available to legally purchase over there.
My friends torrent stuff and in the process discover new music to dig, so when the respective artist goes touring in Europe, they go see the show. And we all know bands make most of their money from touring, when all the licensing and revenue-sharing eats away at record sales.
Point is, good for the EU. Even if we were to ignore the whole concept of the arts as a tool to make audiences happy, file-sharing could actually make sense from an economic perspective.
Brainpicker, if the point is that music should be free unless you want to go to a show, in which case you can pay, may be fair enough. Record lables could sign an artist just like a sports team. If the "Player" makes money, it's primarily because he put on a show. There still seems to be a gray area here that might have more to do with the resentment of wealth than anything else.
amazing that the French are so easily driven by the barbarians of American culture -- Hollywood