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Music swappers face home invasion by EU IP enforcers
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| imokruok |
RIAA sucks, but all they do is file lawsuits...
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Music swappers face home invasion
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3545839.stm
9 Mar 2004
Rampant song swappers could have their homes raided and property seized under an EU law due to be voted on Tuesday.
The new law puts in place tough measures to deal with anyone who flouts intellectual property rights.
Critics say the law is too blunt as it applies the same penalties to both professional counterfeiters and consumers who swap pop songs online.
They are calling for the directive to be amended to make penalties more appropriate to what an offender does.
The final vote on the EU Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive takes place in the European Parliament on 9 March.
Initially the law was drawn up to target the professional pirates, criminals and counterfeiters who make copies of everything from CDs to handbags.
But while being debated the directive was widened to cover any infringement of intellectual property.
The directive allows companies to raid homes, seize property and ask courts to freeze bank accounts to protect trademarks or intellectual property they believe are being abused or stolen.
Civil liberty and lobby groups fear that the music industry will also use the law to mount raids on the homes of people who swap songs via file-sharing systems such as Kazaa.
The incoming directive was compared to the controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act by Andreas Dietl, director of EU Affairs for the European Digital Rights (EDRi) lobby group.
The Recording Industry Association of America has used the DMCA to bring lawsuits against file-swappers in the US and EDRi fears the same could now happen in European countries.
The European law has been shepherded through the European Parliament by MEP Janelly Fourtou, wife of Jean-Rene Fourtou who is boss of media giant Vivendi Universal.
"Under this law, your home is not quite your castle anymore," said Mr Dietl, "You will have to defend it quite aggressively."
Lobbyists also fear that the law could threaten press freedom in countries, such as Spain, which include confidential information in definitions of intellectual property.
The vote on the law could be close because more than 100 Euro-MPs have pledged support for amendments to the directive to make its penalties and the action firms can take more appropriate to who has committed an offence.
In November, the EU copyright directive came into force in the UK which put many things people are used to doing with music, such as copying tracks to an MP3 player, fell into a legal grey area.
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| djSlain |
| ugh, they give out $13, which isn't enough to buy a CD (GU by sasha is still $18 around here). Now they are going to spend money to get MP3s, which once "seized" is not going to do anything for them. what, are they going to? resell the mp3s? $1000 to raid a single house, just to get 2 $15 linkin park cds |
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| Arbiter |
I'm sure this will have a big effect on things. I mean, just look at how stiff drug penalties have reduced drug use in the United States.
Oh, wait. |
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| smokeape |
Well, if terrorists bombed the RIAA or EUIP headquarters, would anyone really care? Not me anyhow...
:whip:
[[[smoke]]] |
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| PHALPAX |
| whoa, and I thought we had it bad here in the states :nervous: |
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| Galapidate |
*hides in bomb shelter*
oh wait! I don't live in Europe hahahahahahahahaha :haha:
Seriously though, that sucks so much compared to what the RIAA's doing. I hope it (RIAA) doesn't follow these actions :( |
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| Moongoose |
Great, remind me again why i voted YES when there was time on deciding wheter we should join EU this may or not 
Oh yes no more borders when going to italy or austria and no more limits on the cars you can import...damn it i knew it that those parts of me that love parties abroad and tuning old sport cars would come back to hunt me someday
But then im not worried yet, things still may turn for the better :cool: |
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| St_Andrew |
| hmm, i find it _VERY_ unlikely that they will use this law against private persons... but yeah, this directive sucks :whip: :whip: |
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| trancaholic |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
hmm, i find it _VERY_ unlikely that they will use this law against private persons... but yeah, this directive sucks :whip: :whip: |
In Denmark we have had a similar law for quite some time, and it *has* been used for going after private persons. In some cases, the danish RIAA (APG) has logged onto filesharing services, taken screenshots of peoples shares, and then proceeded with legal actions against them.
Be afraid - be very afraid. |
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| 3xx3r7 |
RIAA is useless, lazy, loathsome organization, who instead of promoting artists, uses cheap tactics by sueing consumers. None of that settlement money is received by artists.
Arist gets on average 20 cents per CD. Most of the money goes to hogs knowns as labels. |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by trancaholic
In Denmark we have had a similar law for quite some time, and it *has* been used for going after private persons. In some cases, the danish RIAA (APG) has logged onto filesharing services, taken screenshots of peoples shares, and then proceeded with legal actions against them.
Be afraid - be very afraid. |
Do they actually committ home invasion though? :nervous: |
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| trancaholic |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Do they actually committ home invasion though? :nervous: |
So far only with a court order. However, (perhaps to avoid negative publicity) ISPs in Denmark has started to share information with APG whenever it requests it. This means that APG can log on to a file sharing service, take a screenshot of the contents of your sharedirectory, ask your ISP who you are, and then have you fined. Yup, screenshots, despite them being easily manipulated, are accepted as evidence in these cases.
After its first wins, APG recently just took screenshots, printed them out along with a fine and sent it to the perpetrators, who were given the choice of paying up front or face a trial. Mafia tactics most definately.
So, APG don't have much need for home invasion anymore. |
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