Alan Cox Attacks the European DMCA

forged writes "The Register already reported Alan Cox's involvement against the proposed European Union Copyright Directive before. Today, Alan Cox has issued a wake up call to the Linux community amid concerns that the pending EUCD could stymie open source development. "The directive, which was approved last year, extends European copyright legislation so that it is even more restrictive than America's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)."" If you haven't joined the EFF (or the equivalent in your country) , now might be a good time.

Comments

is it as restrictive as SSSCA?

[Husaria]

can we consider this as bad as that law? Analysists have said that Europe is headed towards a left wing bend, but yet those amongst the right wing are rising, (ie: france). This law would be something the left would devise, but yet some Europeans are feeling reactionary now, so would this law even come to pass?
If ordinary Europeans don't, then its up to us then

An European DMCA, the last thing we need...

[danro]

Maybe I should put my money where my mouth is and join the EEF Europe or some similar organisation.

The EU is trying to take away a very good reason to live in Europe...
And after seeing what the DMCA has done to the US...
Time to get on the barricades I guess.

Restrictions Create Pressure

[4of12]

For the record I'm totally against the DMCA and this similar abomination in the EU.

That said, would not overly restrictive legislation like this provide strong incentive for consumers to adopt freely available formats that are not encumbered?

If all the big-name commercially-produced for-pay video and audio comes locked up with so many chains, and I can produce my own audio and video in an open format that gets distributed for free without restriction, won't people naturally want viewers for the free formats and content creators for the free formats (a la home movies, etc?)

I mean, a free open standard has worked pretty well for HTML.

Equivalents...

[Rary]

If you haven't joined the EFF (or the equivalent in your country) , now might be a good time.

Okay, so anybody care to list some equivalents? I think Electronic Frontier Canada is about the closest we have up here in the frosty north. There's also Electronic Frontiers Australia, and the Global Internet Liberty Coalition. Anyone know any others?

- This sig for sale or rent...cheap

References?

[why-is-it]

The difference I might add that in some European countries it will be Illegal to speak out against it to ANY extent they want ( Not talking about violent action, talking like that COULD get you in trouble even in the US). Here we can bitch and moan to our hearts content, and actually DO something about it. There, once its law forget it.......

Some European countries? I don't suppose that you could provide us with some details to back that claim up, could you?

Re:Article is WRONG on DMCA exemption for blind

[Seth Finkelstein]

Further on this point, the example of eBooks for use by the blind has been argued specifically as an instance of what's wrong with the DMCA. From EFC/EFF Comments on Canadian "DMCA" (CPDCI) (Sep. 15, 2001):

Perhaps the most troubling application of the DMCA is the recent criminal prosecution of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov. Sklyarov's employer, a Russian software company known as Elcomsoft, produced and distributed software that can be used to convert digital books from Adobe's eBook format into Adobe's PDF format. In the course of the format conversion, the use restrictions imposed by the eBook format are stripped away. It is undisputed that the Elcomsoft software can be used to facilitate noninfringing uses of eBooks (e.g., fair use excerpting, or to facilitate automated translation into Braille for blind readers). Sklyarov himself was never accused of infringing a copyright, or assisting in the infringing activities of any third party. Nevertheless, for his part in developing the software, U.S. officials arrested him and held him in custody for 3 weeks.[17] He and Elcomsoft were recently indicted by a grand jury in San Jose, California. Based on the indictment, Sklyarov faces a maximum of 25 years in prison and a fine that could exceed $2 million.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I do, however, know the DMCA very well, since I've been worried for many years about being sued under the DMCA for my anticensorware work (I should further note that I have talked much more with EFF these days about my particular legal problems, but I shouldn't talk about that here. Do Join EFF!)

Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

For Germans

[j7953]

There is an online petition, privatkopie.net, that you might want to consider signing. Of course, since online petitions aren't the most effective tool, you'll also want to think about sending a personal letter to your representative.

Where are the organisations?

[mvdwege]

I am very much interested in fighting this legislation. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find an organisation in my home country that seems willing to lead the fight.

If necessary, I'm willing to put in the work to set something up, or help an existing organisation. If any slashdot reader in the Netherlands knows more or wants to help, just drop me an e-mail. Any readers who already have an organisation running in other countries are free to contact me for help and tips.

Mart (e-mail on my userpage)