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EU IP Enforcement Directive Criticized
wiredog writes "A commentary at ZDNet UK concerning the proposed EU IP Enforcement Directive describes it as being as bad as, or possibly worse than, the American DMCA. Some snippets: 'You want to change the tyres on your 2006 model Ford Prefect? Anything other than genuine Ford tyres -- with the genuine Ford ID chip -- will disable your car. In the brave new world of the Directive, singing ... in public with your hat on the floor would be a crime,... You can imagine how much the police are going to enjoy having to cope with that.' It closes with the observation that "intellectual property is verging on thought crime."" Civil liberties groups have sent a letter to EU urging that the proposal be rejected.
Portable MP3/Ogg players get better every year. While I was searching the internet for a suitable present to give my SO, I have considered purchasing an iPod, what brought it to my attention was that it costs the same as a Ruger .357. Both are lovely little pieces of engineering although with a bit of thought I realised both are bad things, instead I decided to put down my first down payment on a BMW X5. Back to the iPod, is this device legal? Will those of us who use it bring the wrath of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) down on our heads like a corporate version of Maxwell's Silver Hammer?
Music is a creative process. Today, when a musician publishes music, i.e., exposes it to the outside world, only a privileged set of individuals are able to use the music as they please (RIAA). However, the artist has drawn from the creativity of many other musicians and there is an existential responsibility placed upon them to give this back unconditionally, so creativity is fostered among people. This is why peoples using music how they like is imperative.
Consider: RIAA-bought legislators are trying to get insane bills made into law. Whether or not they succeed, there are plenty of confusing copyright protection regulations out there already, and the latest tactic the music industry is using in its attempt to slow the death of their obsolete business model is to target individual users, not just commercial CD duplicators or large-scale file-sharing networks.
There seems to be this big RIAA push to outlaw all devices that facilitate file copying. Computer operating systems, for example, all have ways to copy files, and all those new little USB memory devices are certainly handy places to stash files and give you an easy way to move them from one computer to another, even if neither computer is hooked to the Internet or a LAN.
And then there's that MP3/Ogg player. My SO has many years' worth of legally-purchased CDs, and loves the idea of being able to transfer the music on them to a small solid-state device instead of using a portable CD player and lugging stacks of CDs everywhere. But would my Stevie suddenly become a criminal if he started ripping all his CDs?
Apparently not. Yet. It seems the recording industry powers-that-be haven't gotten around to suing customers who transfer music (that they've paid for) from one medium to another to make personal use more convenient. But will this largesse on their part continue? Could my SO be at the beach one day and find herself tossed in the back of a police car if he has music in his possession for which he has no receipt on his person?
(Yes, this is one of those "slippery slope" arguments, and the idea of an innocent music fan getting arrested is as farfetched as the ideas of copyright terms getting extended by Congress every time Disney?s copyright on Mickey Mouse is due to expire.)
But it looks like the RIAA is now going after music fans who share as few as five songs with friends over the Internet.
What if my SO hands his headphones to a young friend who may not have heard a piece of 'classic rock' he enjoys? What if he shares five songs with ten friends at a party? What if he makes a compilation CD full of MP3 or Ogg Vorbis files for a friend by using a 'copyright circumvention device' like, say, his laptop computer? So far, the nasty old Internet hasn't come into play. But if my SO emails those same files to a few friends, is he suddenly a pirate?
I have given up trying to sort out all this music filesharing stuff. The only 100% safe solution I've come up with is to avoid owning any music whatsoever produced by RIAA member companies. If you look around a little, you can find plenty of interesting pieces, in almost all genres, sold directly by the artists or by small recording companies that aren't trying to make trouble for their customers.
Hopefully you'll take similar steps yourself to eliminate the risk of being arrested by the FBI or other law enforcement a
There is no god
Most big animals thrash around a lot as theyre dying.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
It's called phon-ics, you snaggle-toothed uglies. ;)
And if you jackarses (see! I can speak Brit!) would have decided to spell things in the 1600's, before we told you where to stick your tea tax, none of use would have this problem.
As it is, you have some arsehole trying to throw you in gaol just because, when attempting a tricky manouevre in your car, your arse-coloured tires are a bit off-centre and run up on the kerb, hitting the lorrie in front of you, and mucking your bonnet.
And don't even ask me about the time I requested a napkin at a restaurant. ;)
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat