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EU Weighs Copyright Law

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the penalties-that-obviously-fit-the-crime dept.

Braedley writes "Some members of the European IT industry are unhappy with a proposed law that would penalize various parties, from software companies to ISPs, to even some hardware manufactures, but not the end users for infringing on intellectual property. Penalties for this aiding and abetting could include jail time for employees if found guilty."

3 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Sigh..... by AlphaLop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We need to get back to the system where copyright infringement is a civil matter and not a criminal matter. Then if the "pirates" are bad enough, the companies can sue them in civil court and quit suppressing our freedoms for the sake of their profits and then we can stop footing the bill to protect their corporate interests.

    --
    It's only paranoia if your wrong...
  2. Not sensible by cyberbob2351 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, at least they are not focused on penalizing the end users...

    Realistically however, theres only so much one can do. If ISP's start policing the nets more, it just means that the filetraders will resort to shadier and more secure methods of transport. The content distributors will rely more heavily on botnets and compromised webservers to hold the information, and we will see a higher prevalence of strongly encrypted darkets like WASTE for getting the information around.

    If anything, people will go underground with sneakernet.

    And how dare we hold hardware manufacturers accountable? Copying of information is just an inherent property of the technology. Writing implements can be used to copy written works, do we hold pencil manufacturers accountable? If sneakernet becomes the norm, do we hold ipods and portable hard drives the culprit?

    Give it up. Filetrading is here to stay, regardless of what prohibitions the governments place on it.

    --
    for sale
    I'm a self-modifying sig virus
  3. They just can't wait to kill the internet by SpaghettiCoder · · Score: 5, Interesting
    It's been their plan all along to implement something called "The Grid" - a massive centralized network including phones, computers, televisions, etc. This "Grid" would be accessible only by first giving personally identifiable info in the form of some kind of digital signature. The UK government proposed this to the telecoms industry in 1999 or thereabouts.

    IIRC, this particular legislation would, according to the masterplan, be about 2 or 3 years ahead of schedule.

    The EU is a very sinister machine. Power resides in the hands of the Council 100%. The Council proposes legislation, and submits them to the European Parliament for rubber-stamping. In most cases, the MEPs haven't read the legislation they're voting on (this isn't a piece of Slashdot bull - this is really the truth) and wouldn't be able to understand it anyway. They are there because it's a very easy way to get fat without doing anything. The European Parliament can send a piece of legislation back to the Council for amendment (and the Council usually just makes superficial changes), but the second time around it goes through (different rules regarding the majority).


    Make no mistake: the Council itself is a puppet of the G6, the Carlyle Group and other secretive friends. It's been decided the internet (in the form it is in right now) has to go down. The Council has to formulate a 5/10 year plan and direct national governments and the EU about what they have to do.