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1) But late amendments added to the law limited who intellectual property owners could take action against and what penalties they could apply. The amendments the parliament refers to are actually a compromise reached between parliament and the council of ministers (representatives of EU national governments) earlier in the process. The amendment says, in the preamble (not the main body of the text) that some (not all) of the harshest sanctions, such as freezing bank accounts, should only apply to 'commercial' violations. However, this is very broadly defined as a violation that gives someone an 'economic advantage', which could be applied to, say, someone who downloads a song off the Internet for free. For more information see this story.

2) This legislation, which originally had DMCA-like provisions The provisions banning circumventions of copy-protection technology were passed in the EU Copyright Directive of 2001, and according to a recent study, EU member nations are implementing these sanctions in full, without including protections to researchers and business competition, which they are allowed to do. See this story.

3) with companies able to raid, confiscate and freeze the bank accounts of those accused of copyright infringement This is accurate: these surprise raids are known as Anton Pillar orders, and in civil cases, they allow companies themselves to carry out the raids, hopefully overseen by their solicitors to make sure they keep within the rules of the order. More information on these orders here. In criminal cases, which are the only kind in which most countries allow Anton Pillar orders, the raids are carried out by police. In the UK the raids are allowed in civil IP cases, but only for large-scale piracy or counterfeiting. The new IP directive could make these raids available for any civil IP case. The recent raids on Sharman Networks and others in Australia were authorised by Anton Pillar orders.

It is true that the directive must still be interpreted by member states and implemented in their national laws, and this could represent an opportunity for the directive's harsher aspects to be limited. But it will now be a matter of making this happen in 25 different member countries (post-enlargement of EU) rather than on a Europe-wide level. Additionally, the experience of implementation of the EUCD (see above) suggests that member states won't automatically limit bizarre and repressive directives, no matter how controversial they are.

This is partly because, when they're debating laws like this at a national level, they tend to talk to the parties directly affected -- in this case, people like the BSA and the IFPI (Euro-RIAA); ordinary citizens have to work harder to be included in the process.

Matt Broersma, ZDNet UK

>"...While I don't agree with the extortion tactics, let's at least be clear on this. Buying legitimate smartcard writers has never been an issue. DirecTV sends the extortion letters to people who have specifically purchased specialty smartcard readers whose design intent is to program DirecTV cards (i.e. Mikobu, etc). You're in no danger of receiving a threat letter if you purchase, say, a SDLogic writer, because it's not designed to work with DirecTV cards (but it can be made to with a flash upgrade...)"

Not true, but DirecTV would like you to believe that.

DirecTV has sent out many of these "extortion" letters to people who have merely purchased Netsignia 210 smartcard programmers because they bought them from a place DirecTV claims marketed the devices to DSS pirates. It's all about money and DirecTV will sue anyone they think they have a chance of winning a case against, or at least make it cheaper to settle than fight.

Additionally, DirecTV is taking a "sue them all and let God sort them out" approach where they do NO investigation prior to the filing of the suit. Only if someone decides to fight it do they take a look if they can find any evidence beyond a busted company's purchase order.

DirecTV Defense
DTVLawsuits
FreedomFight
Lakeshore Law DirecTV FAQ
Overhauser Law Offices
WUMarkus DirecTV Legal Forums
EFF Coordinates Fight Against DirecTV

>"...These antics stem from lawsuits here. I, for one, will be switching to DirecTV if they don't get this figured out."

Switch to DirecTV and instead of the stations you watch getting sued, YOU could get sued... for $3,500.00 and on up...

EFF Coordinates Fight Against DirecTV
DirecTV Defense
DirecTV Sues Anyone Who Bought Smartcard Reader?
FreedomFight.CA
DTVLawsuits
Lakeshore Law's DirecTV FAQ
Overhauser Law
WUMarkus' DirecTV Legal Info

Have all of you forgotten Direct Tv's business tactics? I for one would never switch over to any company that employs such methods.

here.

here.

here.

• both the US and Australia allow "sneak and peek" searches in which the target of the search is not informed of he search;
• In Australia, a private citizen can apply for such an order; in the US, only police and prosecutors can, making it effectively unavailable to private citizens, but available to corporations;
• Legislation in the US limits such searches to investigations of terrorism, but John Ashcroft is working mightily to extend its use to non-terrorism related activities.

One of the most painful aspects of all is the requirement after the order is served, usually within 14 days, to provide documentary evidence to the court, which PROVES that you own the software that is the subject of the court order (and may extend to PROVING that ALL software is legally acquired), by showing software compliance registers (an inventory approach), license numbers, discs and manuals, AND originals of all invoices from the SUPPLIERS of the software that you own.

I don't know much about digital cable but I can tell you a few things about DirecTV having been a subscriber for several years. I live in the Seattle area and it rains here a lot. We have never had a problem with rain fade. The only time my signal drops to a unwatchable level, it is due to someone bumping it on the way up the stairs (dish is in a bad location and easy to bump if you are carting stuff up the stairs.).

The down side is the year long contact you must agree to for service. If you want to cancel early they charge your something like $12/month left on the contact. There is a $5/month charge for equipment per room. And finally DirecTV has had great problems getting me a bill in the mail each month. I don't really know why, but I had to start paying my bills online just to make sure they didn't try to ding me for late fees.

Finally, I would like to point out DirecTV's private war on piracy. You might want to check out sites like Freedom Fight and make sure you morally agree with DirecTV's methods of (IMHO) extortion.

While this is big news, something even bigger is happening in Canada. The long-running Pirate's Den website and its message forums have been taken offline due to legal recourse by DirecTV. You can get every single detail here. DTV wants to basically outlaw free speech over the internet.

Make sure to visit the forums for up to date information on anything regarding DirecTV and the law.