[Commons-Law] Europe votes on anti-piracy law -- in the name of "investment, consumers, and telecom operators"

[Pranesh Prakash]

From
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7492907.stm

Europe votes on anti-piracy laws

* Europeans suspected of putting movies and music on file-sharing networks
could be thrown off the web under proposals before Brussels. *

The powers are in a raft of laws that aim to harmonise the regulations
governing Europe's telecom markets.

Other amendments added to the packet of laws allow governments to decide
which software can be used on the web.

Campaigners say the laws trample on personal privacy and turn net suppliers
into copyright enforcers.

* Piracy plan *

MEPs are due to vote on the so-called Telecom Packet on 7 July. The core
proposals in the packet were drawn up to help European telecoms firms cope
with the rapid pace of change in the industry.

Technological and industry changes that did not respect borders had
highlighted the limitations of Europe's current approach which sees national
governments oversee their telecoms markets.

"The current fragmentation hinders investment and is detrimental to
consumers and operators," says the EU document laying out the proposals.

But, say digital rights campaigners, anti-piracy lobbyists have hijacked the
telecoms laws and tabled amendments that turn dry proposals on industry
reform into an assault on the freedom of net users.

 Among the amendments are calls to enact a Europe-wide "three strikes" law.
This would see users banned from the web if they fail to heed three warnings
that they are suspected of putting copyrighted works on file-sharing
networks.

In addition it bestows powers on governments to decide which programs can be
"lawfully" used on the internet.

A coalition of European digital rights groups have banded together to
galvanise opposition.

"[The amendments] pave the way for the monitoring and filtering of the
internet by private companies, exceptional courts and Orwellian technical
measures," said Christophe Espern, co-founder of French rights group La
Quadrature du Net (Squaring the Net) in a statement.

The UK's Open Rights Group said the laws would be "disproportionate and
ineffective".

The Foundation for a Free Internet Infrastructure (FFII) warned that if the
amendments were accepted they would create a "Soviet internet" on which only
software and services approved by governments would be allowed to run.

"Tomorrow, popular software applications like Skype or even Firefox might be
declared illegal in Europe if they are not certified by an administrative
authority," warned Benjamin Henrion, FFII representative in Brussels, in a
statement.

"This is compromising the whole open development of the internet as we know
it today," he said.

MEP Malcolm Harbour, rapporteur for users rights and the e-privacy directive
who has helped oversee the Telecoms Package, challenged the rights groups
view of the amendments.

"The intention of the directive is nothing like direction they are
claiming," he said.

The reforms to the package would likely improve rights for consumers, he
said adding that there was no mention of specific anti-piracy measures in
the Package.

It is not clear yet whether the amendments will be accepted in full. In
April 2008 European politicians voted against similar proposals that would
have seen suspected file-sharers thrown off the net.

 Susan Hall, media partner at solicitors Cobbetts LLP said: "The amendment
will cause several problems, firstly, many broadband users routinely
transfer large files which are encrypted.

"Many of these are acting quite legitimately and in order to determine
whether or not such large files are or are not the produce of illicit file
sharing the ISP will have to carry out an unprecedented degree of analysis
of its customers' traffic. "Furthermore, computers are frequently shared -
within offices, within homes, within educational institutions and
inadvertently, where wrong-doers "piggy back" on an inadequately secured
Wi-Fi connection.

"All this raises the spectre of people losing internet access - for reasons
which are no fault of their own."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7492907.stm

Published: 2008/07/07 16:42:50 GMT

(c) BBC MMVIII
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