[Commons-Law] we are all pirates

[Keith Hart]

On 2nd February, a 28-year-old French teacher, Alain Oddoz, was the 
first of some fifty victims to be fined for 'illegal downloading of 
songs from the internet. In a story, headed '15,000 euros for an 
accidental pirate', the left-wing newspaper Liberation reports that he 
downloaded 10,000 songs onto his hard disk and was considered 'a big 
fish' in the current legal campaign of the French music industry. This 
campaign has as its objective to discourage people from making free 
peer-to-peer exchanges of music. It has provoked a campaign against 
'repression of net pirates' by the magazine Nouvel Observateur, under 
slogans such as 'Liberez l@ musique' and 'nous sommes yous pirates'. 
Several prominent artists and politicians have already signed. The 
Liberation article of 3rd February (they charge 2 euros for a look, so 
there is no point in giving the URL) also contains an interview with 
academic, Fabrice Rochelandet, who argues for self-regulation and 
against trials and licences.

See below for Nouvel Observateur's peer-to-peer special (in French):

http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/culture/20050201.OBS7675.html

Keith Hart