Rumors of a 'Whisper Campaign' Forming Against Fair Use

An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica reports that a group of companies and organizations it calls 'big content' is currently engaged in a worldwide 'whisper campaign' against Fair Use. 'The counter-reformation in question takes the form of a "whispering campaign" in which ministries in different countries are told that plans to expand fair use rights might well run afoul of the Berne Convention's "three-step test." The Convention, which goes back to the late 1800s, was one of the earliest international copyright treaties and is now administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).'"

Comments

If they win, it'll be the average person's fault

[MikeRT]

Because of the number of people not paying for copyrighted works, and actually calling that "fair use," these organizations have potent propaganda at their disposal. Downloading songs off of P2P networks is not fair use. It's copyright infringement, but don't tell many geeks and nerds that it's something other than "sticking it to the man." I predicted a while ago that this sort of bullshit would come back to haunt us, and now they are using the redefined "fair use" against legitimate fair use.