IPRED2 - Open Rights Group vs. Their Rights Online

Elektroschock writes "The British Open Rights Groups yells the alarm bell. Europe again. Ipred v.2, a directive proposal, will pass the Legal Affairs Committee soon. ipred2 would brand 'all intentional intellectual property rights infringements on a commercial scale' a criminal offence, thus the public prosecutor will take action and take over the role of RIAA. For commercial social communities where infringements are inevitable — think of Youtube — they expect dangerous times ahead. On the other hand life of content industrials would get a lot easier. It is difficult to imagine how the consumer would benefit. Toine Manders, Dutch MEP in that Committee, openly advocates his amendment proposal aimed to criminalize consumers. Open Rights Group suggests you to write to your Members of Parliament. Will they have any impact? Janelly Fourtou, wife of the Vivendi boss, is a member of the Committee. And she pushed through ipred number 1, so why should public action make a difference? The EFF started only this month to build up an office in Brussels. Do MEPs listen or could Sealand be an option for Web 2.1?"

Why is it....

[robcfg]

that the politicians doesn't understand that criminalizing people is absurd. Politicians were elected to work FOR people and not AGAINST people. For me the path is clear, if the value their intellectual properties they should not sell it and keep it in a secure vault.

Oh, they understand that

[Opportunist]

But we only cast a vote, the money comes from the industry.

I tried reading the proposal...

[montyzooooma]

...and while it's not exactly dense legalese it is pretty dull. Which is going to be the problem isn't it. I wrote to my MP during the main anti-EU patent campaign and it was probably an eye-opener for him when compared to the typical letter he'd receive on a weekly basis. But with software patents there are some pretty broad strokes you can paint if you want to paint a negative picture - anti-competitive monopolies, patent trolls etc. But I think we're going to have a harder time convincing our MPs that there's a good reason not to criminalise commercial copyright infringement whether it's on Youtube or selling pirate DVDs in pubs or at car boot sales.

While I may BT the odd TV show at least I know what I'm doing is illegal. Instinctively I know that if this goes through it's the thin end of the wedge to making it not only illegal but criminal too. But I suspect my freedom to steal TV off the internet with only the threat of a fine hanging over my head is going to be a hard sell to my MP.

Re:Who can I donate money to who will fight this?

[Shrubber]

There is an organization out there that works hard every day to fight this!

http://thepiratebay.org/ [thepiratebay.org]