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Censorship

Alan Cox Attacks the European DMCA 226

Posted by chrisd from the alan-cox-is-xoc-nala-spelled-backwards dept.
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.
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Alan Cox Attacks the European DMCA More

Alan Cox Attacks the European DMCA

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  • is there a UK wing or something similar I can give my support to?

    dave
  • Well if this passes in Europe I wonder where Alan Cox will move too. South America. Pretty soon he might have to consider the moon...

    :)

  • 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
    • This law would be something the left would devise

      How is catering to corporate interests at the expense of the citizens a left-wing trait?
    • it's not fair to compare this to SSSCA or CBDTPA... it's comparable to the DMCA for a reason, they are both copyright protection laws.

      the SSSCA and CBDTPA are/were proposed as hardware regulations
    • "This law would be something the left would devise"

      Uh... left == liberal == free thinking and open minded. Senator Hollings is basically a republican in disguise since he is promoting the corporate agenda of content control that the media companies want. I'm all for them controling their content but lets have them come up with a better way of doing so since unlike things that cause serious damage, like guns and cars, I don't think we need to legislate content control technologies. On top of the fact that they are less than likely to work considering the dropped ball on CSS and SDMI.
      • It seems like you meant to say "left == liberal == free thinking == open minded == does the right thing." Maybe you should rethink that, and realize that maybe "left == liberal == free thinking == open minded == willing to sacrifice the integrity of our constitution."
      • Really most people who are _very_ one way or the other are simple minded. I've not met an intelligent person who was not left wing one one issue yet right wing on another. Both wings support some _really_ stupid idealogy if you look at all of their stances. To cite a point, if the left is so free thinking and open minded, did the California left recently try and ban all .50 caliber rifles? These had never been used in a crime, yet they were saying that this would help the public good. Doesn't sound like a free thinking group to me ;-)
    • Europe isn't headed for a left wing bend. It was, a couple of years ago, but that's the past. Right-wing populist are in now. Ack.
    • What the hell is the point of trying to classify policies as left or right ?

      There are a million issues, even if they were all simple binary choices, there are 2^N different opinions a person could have. Sure, there are certain correlations between issues. If you believe in death penalty, you are more likely to believe in corporal punishment, but are not certain to.

      Since you only get to choose between two options at election time, it suits people to pretend that everything is either "left" or "right". Then they get confused about whether a policy is left or right. It's an extraordinary mass psychosis.

  • An European DMCA, the last thing we need... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by danro ( 544913 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:05PM (#3438442) Homepage
    Maybe I should put my money where my mouth is and join the EEF Europe [eff-europe.org] 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.
    • At the moment it's just a mailing list & you can hardly call one person an organisation!


    • ...is on their web form, when you're filling out the membership information, they don't have a radio-box selection for Mr/Miss/Mrs/Dr/etc. They just have a text field called "Saluation" and you can fill in whatever title you want.

      So I plan to give them my preferred job title of Programmer-at-Arms. If I convince my girlfriend and fellow geek to join, I hope she'll choose something like Dangerous Felon[*] or Dictator For Life.

      [*] Some friends and coworkers went to one of those job fairs where you can fill out "send me free magazines which are vaguely tech-related" cards, which also have fill-in-the-blank Title lines. One of them convinced his supervisor to use Dangerous Felon in the field, and apparently the guy still gets an occasional freebie magazine addressed to Dangerous Felon Joe Public (with Joe Public replaced by his real name).

      • One of the coolest web forms I've ever seen was the one for the United Airlines frequent flyer program. They had a dropdown menu with something like 100 possible titles to choose from, with everything from the standard Mr/Mrs/Dr through less common ones like Swami and Vice Adm all the way up to very rare ones like Prince and Cardinal. Somebody must have had a lot of fun compiling the list of possible titles.

        It might also be amusing to use this as a way of tracking who's sold your address. So when you get a letter addressed to "Lord High Poobah Public" you know that it was real.com that sold your name but when it's addressed to "Darth Public" it was porn.com.

  • Restrictions Create Pressure (Score:3, Interesting)

    by 4of12 ( 97621 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:06PM (#3438459) Homepage Journal

    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.

    • The pros won't use open formats - they want to get paid and are essentially work for hire anyway. So they'll use whatever they are told to or whatever the majority of the hardware players will play back (most likely WMP in 2-3 years).

      Joe Six Pack may use open formats, but do you want to see his home movie with his family drinking and doing donuts in his mud filled yard next to his trailer?

      Neither do I.
    • That said, would not overly restrictive legislation like this provide strong incentive for consumers to adopt freely available formats that are not encumbered?

      No. The goal here is to attack freely available formats and formats that don't restrict user access. Do you think the RIAA would like to ban mp3? This is just one step closer. With this kind of legislation, before long, there will be no free formats, as they are tools only a "pirate" would have reason to use over the proprietary tools.

      I can see it now. RIAA whore: "With the RIAA's secure file format, the only reason you could want to use a format like mp3 is to steal. Banning mp3 is just common sense."

      There is no positive side of laws such as this.
    • That said, would not overly restrictive legislation like this provide strong incentive for consumers to adopt freely available formats that are not encumbered?
      It hasn't worked that way in the US. People buy what's available and at hand, what's been distributed to them; what all the information they get tells them is the one to get, in formats that the content distributors provide. If you want to hear your favorite band, it doesn't do much good for me to say, "well, you can listen to *my* band, the Righteous Geeks of Cambridge, without the restrictive content control." You're likely to say "who the hell are they? I want the Faves."

    • The problem is that it will be impossible (without some miraculous new technology - like quantum cryptography) to create free software which can protect IP as proscribed, it could also make free software which attempts to ignore this aspect of computing illegal because of its functionality as a circumvention device.

    • Bad example (Score:3, Informative)

      by danro ( 544913 )
      I mean, a free open standard has worked pretty well for HTML.

      Yes it has... but I worked as a <shame>webdesigner</shame> for a (short) while at the end of the browser wars.
      And let me tall you.
      For the longest time html was a mess! They (the w3c [w3.org]) even canned the 3.0 version and went to 3.2 because things were so confused. And 4.0 and CSS took years before most browsers implemented it in a reasonable way.

      You can still run into issues created by Netscape and Microsoft in the browser wars if you don't watch out...

      But you're right about things turning out ok in the end.
      Html is good, css is ok, the browsers conform better to the DOM every day, and xhtml is a true blessing!
      But it sure was a rough ride!

  • EFF Membership (Score:3, Informative)

    by Fig, formerly A.C. ( 543042 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:07PM (#3438463)
    I was suprised that they require a donation to become a member. I realize they need the money, but it seems to me they would have more political clout if their total membership tally were much larger - and making donations optional would certainly accomplish this. People who will give money would do it anyway, people who are too broke to pledge monetary support might still like to be counted as against draconian measures like the DMCA...

    • Re:EFF Membership (Score:5, Insightful)

      by asv108 ( 141455 ) <asvNO@SPAMivoss.com> on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:58PM (#3438793) Homepage Journal
      but it seems to me they would have more political clout if their total membership tally were much larger

      If this were true most political organizations would offer a free membership but there are probably two reasons why they don't:

      • Money Talks..
      • Less people would pay because they could get the same "inner reward" by joining for free.
      If a political foundation had to choose between a million free members, or a million dollars, they would probably choose the latter because the fact is money will bring you more influence. The free membership option would cannibalize their lower value donations which the EFF depends on. For example, the NRA counts on having gun-toting hicks send in their $25/year do you think the hicks would still pay if they could say they are an NRA member and not pay a dime?

      There is nobody, I mean NOBODY here who can't spare $25 bucks for the EFF. I'm sick of hearing sob stories on here about poor students who can't spare a dime yet they probably spend 20 hours a week trolling slashdot. Go work at McDonald's for a day, quit, and then send your paycheck to the EFF.

  • Actual Text of the Copyright Directive (Score:3, Informative)

    by Lothar+0 ( 444996 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:08PM (#3438467) Homepage
    You can't get it off the Google list, but you can get it from their cache of the copyright directive [216.239.39.100].

  • Equivalents... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rary ( 566291 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:08PM (#3438469)
    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 [www.efc.ca] is about the closest we have up here in the frosty north. There's also Electronic Frontiers Australia [efa.org.au], and the Global Internet Liberty Coalition [gilc.org]. Anyone know any others?

    - This sig for sale or rent...cheap

  • Question... (Score:1, Troll)

    by FortKnox ( 169099 )
    ...Should Alan Cox start a fight in all countries, or should he just deal with Linux and let the fights go on with diplomats and politicians?

    Besides, how much power does he have outside the internet? Leave the fights to the popular, not the techies.

    Go up to a non-techie type and ask them about "Alan Cox" (they'll probably giggle for reasons you'll find at score:-1).
    • ...Should Alan Cox start a fight in all countries, or should he just deal with Linux and let the fights go on with diplomats and politicians?

      It is precisely because the matter was left to the diplomats, policitians, and the large corporate interests that fund political campaings that this directive was passed in the first place!

      Besides, how much power does he have outside the internet? Leave the fights to the popular, not the techies.

      Who did you have in mind to lead the charge? How many people who are "popular" are also sufficiently well informed about the issues and able to speak coherently and intelligently about the issues. Surely the people who attract the public eye have already been co-opted, or at least see this legislation in their own best interests too. For example, I do not imagine that Brittney Spears would ever argue against these sorts of laws. I doubt that she understands the implications - and even if she did, it is in her record company's best interests to make sure that everyone who wants to listen to her music pays for it, and her best interest because a portion of those royalties go to her

      Sure, the average person on the street does not know who Alan Cox is, but amongst those who are technologically aware, he is known and his opinion carries some weight.

      Who do you think would be a better candidate?

      • For example, I do not imagine that Brittney Spears would ever argue against these sorts of laws. I doubt that she understands the implications

        I dunno, Britney Spears [britneyspears.ac] seems pretty savvy on technical issues.
      • Sure, the average person on the street does not know who Alan Cox is, but amongst those who are technologically aware, he is known and his opinion carries some weight.

        Uh, in kernel maintenance maybe, but why should I listen to what he says about legal issues?

  • So, should we force Europeans to say they are not? (Score:3, Informative)

    by budGibson ( 18631 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:09PM (#3438482)
    Well, after the highly offensive campaign to force Americans to say they were not Americans before they could see the kernel changelog [slashdot.org] for security issues, should we turn about and do the same to Europeans?

  • Cox downplayed the risk to Free Software (Score:5, Informative)

    by Telex4 ( 265980 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:11PM (#3438496) Homepage
    I attended the mini-conference, and The Register is actually a little off in suggesting that he talked about the threats of the EUCD to Free Software development. His central concerns, shared by Martin Keegan, the director of the Campaign for Digital Rights (http://uk.eurorights.org for those in the UK who want an EFF), were that the EUCD could create a new dark age, where digital rights management could see large amounts of information simply disappearing when the format becomes too old, and that minorities such as disabled people would suffer the most because it would not be profitable for companies to produce software to decode the DRM into a format suitable for them.

    I wrote an article summarising the issues discussed at the talk if anyone's interested here [uklinux.net].

  • News for nerds. And that's the problem. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Schlemphfer ( 556732 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:12PM (#3438504) Homepage
    From the article:

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

    It's definitely a good idea to join the EFF, and to be active against this kind of thing. But an even more effective action is to let mainstream folks know about this problem. The DMCA and whatnot is as grave a concern for clueless newbies as it is for hardcore geeks.

    The best way to make your voice heard on this matter is to find a way to get the general population knowledgeable about what's going on. As long as this is seen as mainly an activism issue for nerds, we're in trouble.

  • Article is WRONG on DMCA exemption for blind (Score:5, Informative)

    by Seth Finkelstein ( 90154 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:16PM (#3438534) Homepage Journal
    The article says [theregister.co.uk]:

    The DMCA grants limited permission to circumvent copyright protection in order to make braille copies of eBooks for use by the blind, for example, but the EUCD makes such exceptions optional for member states, so they need not be implemented.
    This is WRONG. There is no such permission in the DMCA. The writer has apparently confused it with a copyright limitation [cornell.edu]:
    Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement of copyright for an authorized entity to reproduce or to distribute copies or phonorecords of a previously published, nondramatic literary work if such copies or phonorecords are reproduced or distributed in specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities.
    Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I do, how ever, know the DMCA very well, since I've been worried for many years about being sued under the DMCA [216.239.35.100] for my anticensorware work [anticensorware.com]

    Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [sethf.com]

    • 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) [eff.org]:

      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 [216.239.35.100] for my anticensorware work [anticensorware.com] (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! [eff.org])

      Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [sethf.com]

  • Well if this passes I have ONE single POSITIVE thing that will come from it.

    All the EuroSlashdotters will have to shut the hell up about there being NO freedom in the USA, "Just look at the DMCA"

    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.......

    The DMCA isnt really that bad in itself, I am serious, the problems are simple and 2 fold, 1 its open to interpratation by people (judges) that dont have a clue about IP or technology issues. 2 The way it is being used as a tool of greed. Not one of the damm DMCA letters I've seen would hold a grain of salt. But people are afraid, its not the law its the way its being weilded.

    • References? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by why-is-it ( 318134 )
      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?

  • This democracy thing... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This democracy thing isn't working... If people were intelligent and understood computers they would not support this... but because people purchase all this crap from corporatations, it is assumed that this is what they (the majority)want, so corporations lobby for it, but little does the comsumer realize that the stuff they are buying is supporting the demise of the freedom that has brought everything they use and buy.
    • This democracy thing isn't working...

      "This democracy thing" is actually working. But it works not like you want it to work; instead, it works as it should, and as designed:

      "Democracy: a form of government in which the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the people."

      This is not a monarchy where ONE enlightened guy rules the country. This is not a dictatorship when ONE insane guy rules the country. The aggregate of all people rules the country, and representatives of the people form the legislature.

      The problem here is that an average citizen of any country has no clue about pretty much anything. But the fool has the voting right! And he uses it left and right not knowing what he is doing, like a neanderthal toying with a nuclear bomb. Since the voting public is so stupid, political machinators nudge it as they need to produce laws they want.

      So basically "democracy works, but I don't like the results it produces" would be more correct. The humanity already produced hundreds of real or imaginary societies that were ruled differently; most of them failed to survive. So far, the democracy wins in survival game - but nobody ever said that survival of the fittest equals survival of the smartest!

      If things progress further as they are now, expect the reality of "Total Recall: 2070". The society will become an amorphous mush of mindless people, who still are permitted to vote but to no use anyway, and companies rule the world. Alligators survived everyone else, but they are dumb as a brick. Archimedes was smart, and he was killed; Socrates was smart and he was killed. Intellect is bad for survival; illiterate peasants are good. That's where the world is moving to.

    • What democracy? Far as I can see, things are heading towards a corporate feudalism.
      Corporations, of course, occupying the positions of the local lords, and the local government taking the position of monarch, dispensing laws.
      The 'lords' were the concentration of the power and the wealth, quite capable of toppling a monarch by subtle intrigue, which is why most courts of old had to carfully give the 'lords' lots of what they required, to placate them.
      The same is true of corporations now, with their campaign donations, and media slant/purchasing.
      The common consumer now takes the role of the ancient 'peasant'. They work hard to get their subsistance, and a little more to keep them happy.
      The earnings are given mainly to the 'lords' (currently corporations), who report what they want the monarch (govenment) to hear (via lobby groups, lawyers etc). Then they threaten to withdraw support of actions they want aren't taken.
      Most monarchs (political parties) will capitulate to hold onto the power. If they don't, well, the next one will likely be more malleable. Removing the current one is no problem for the 'lords'.
      Currently, it seems that a vote is an illusion. No matter who you vote for, a consumate bought and paid for politician is who you get, and the 'power behind the throne' still stays the same.
      A democracy presupposes that everyone is informed about all the issues, and that their votes count. Currently, people get one vote every few years, and then just about no say for the next several years. Not only that, but much of the time, actually finding out what the issues are ahead of time is hard to do.. Much like the planning permission for Arthur Dent's house in Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. It was in a disused basement in a locked cabinet, and both stairs and light were out, and there was a sign saying beware of the leopard.
      And if we don't reply, it's then assumed that we don't object. Just like the peasantry of the Feudal system. Given enough to be kept 'content', and then kept in the dark about most things of real importance, with the "what the don't know won't hurt us" stance.
      Democracy's a great thing. I just wish we had one in the first place.

      Malk
      • A democracy presupposes that everyone is informed about all the issues, and that their votes count. Currently, people get one vote every few years, and then just about no say for the next several years.

        It also assumes a candidate being available to represent every possible issue. (Which is especially a problem in places like the US, where things are dominated by a tiny number of political parties).

        Not only that, but much of the time, actually finding out what the issues are ahead of time is hard to do.

        It's not unknown for political parties to claim they will do A, but actually do B . Or simply procrastinate on doing A, without actually doing anything. Let alone using outright "doublespeak".

  • From the article:

    If it goes through unmodified, the EUCD would make it a criminal offence to break or attempt to break the copy protection or Digital Rights Management systems on digital content such as music, software or eBooks. As it stands, the EUCD may lead to a rerun of Dmitri Sklyarov's prosecution, prevent teachers copying materials for their students or other legitimate uses of copyright material, opponents believe.

    ...

    Since it is illegal to circumvent copyright protection, developers would be forced to sign licenses with the creators of a format in order to develop playback tools. This means that a creator could control the market, Cox warned, creating antitrust concerns.

    It never ceases to amaze me how companies who claim to be technology companies, or corporations who adopt technological representations of their media cry when all of a sudden they have to deal with a new set of rules that comes with the new medium. If you're unprepared to deal with the ramifications of the technology, then don't invent/publish/distribute using it. Period. End of story.

    If you're concerned about copy protection, invent something that works. If you don't have the resources to do that, then investigate new paradigms of reimbursement [selfpromotion.com]. The fact that corporations are lobbying for regulation this strict is a clear admission of failure on their part to be smart enough to add value to a huge demand already presented by end consumers.

    Thank God for the almighty dollar!

    In the end, I hope OpenSource technologies and licenses will be continue to be developed, published and used by individuals. If it is prohibitive to use a particular proprietary file format, then we as consumers should demand that it shouldn't be used, and alternatives [ogg.org] be made available instead.

    • It never ceases to amaze me how companies who claim to be technology companies, or corporations who adopt technological representations of their media cry when all of a sudden they have to deal with a new set of rules that comes with the new medium. If you're unprepared to deal with the ramifications of the technology, then don't invent/publish/distribute using it. Period. End of story.

      Fortunately corporate lickspittle like the above poster don't have very much influence in the EU. The abuse of copyright and patent protections to establish and maintain monopolies has been prosecuted repeatedly.

      In particular the DVD companies are about to get their ass handed to them for the use of the DVD zone encoding for illegal price manipulation. If the case sticks (it should) the studios stand to receive fines of tens of billions of dollars each. And don't think foreign courts can't enforce judegments on a US company, they can, if necessary sequestering the copyrights of the company.

      Thank God for the almighty dollar!

      The question at issue is the almighty Euro which is not as effectatious when it comes to bribing politicians. Unlike in the US European politicians do not collect funds directly for their personal campaigns. So there is no Senator for Disney (Hollings) or Novell (Hatch). Archers Daniels Midland does not get off anti-trust investigations by purchasing the majority leader (Dole).

      There are cases in which technology has been used to establish a market monopoly. For example Rupert Murdoch controlls the UK satelite broadcast market through control of the ViaCrypt system. Fear that he might be regulated by the EU is the reason the Murdoch press is anti-EU. Murdoch has power because of his newspaper interests however and it is a limited power.

    • It never ceases to amaze me how companies who claim to be technology companies, or corporations who adopt technological representations of their media cry when all of a sudden they have to deal with a new set of rules that comes with the new medium.

      It's known as "having their cake and eatinig it", publishers want easy to duplicate and distribute media. Since they keep their costs down and boost their profits. Especially if they can persuade the customer to pay more for the new media at the same time.
      However this can also make unauthorised duplication trivial. So the response appears to be to "supercriminilise" copyright infringment, whereas the only really effective method is to render "piracy" uneconomic. Which would mean cutting profits.

      The fact that corporations are lobbying for regulation this strict is a clear admission of failure on their part to be smart enough to add value to a huge demand already presented by end consumers.

      Let alone that in a capitalist system it isn't the government's job to protect even the existance of specific commercial entities.
  • The conference that Alan Cox spoke at yesterday was organised by the Campaign for Digital Rights - we are trying to do something about this, and other similar laws. Anyone in the UK, or Europe in general, who wants to help fight this, should consider at least signing up to our mailing list.

    http://uk.eurorights.org/ [eurorights.org]

    We have about 6 months before the EUCD becomes law in this country to try and mitigate it as miuch as possible, and try and stop all the massive loopholes that the media industry is going to exploit in it. Any help we can get is alway appreciated!

  • OK Chris, the bill is the European Union Copyright Directive. You got that right. It can be (and has been) abbreviated as the EUCD. Do you HAVE to dumb-down the article and call it the European DMCA?
    It's not the European DMCA, it's the EUCD. It's a different bill with similar aims. I'm sure the /. readers can understand that. Why can't you?

    • I'm sure the /. readers can understand that.

      Kind of presumptive, don't you think?

      • I admit it--I was being hopelessly optimistic. It's a flaw of mine. :-)

        Most people can. Most people are actually quite smart, if you refuse to let them get away with being dumb. Unfortunately, we live in a society (world-wide as far as I can tell) that thrives on people being stupid, and acting stupid.
  • Finally, something Americans can be just a little proud of. "We're not as speech-restrictive as those European countries!"

    Remember that the next time someone looks down their nose at you for being an American. *eye roll*

    • I know you were probably joking, but just in case..

      The DMCA came to America first, and hasn't even got to europe (yet). Secondly, you have your own problems, ie the SSSCA. Lastly, you are much to low on the UN Human Freedom Index to be giving europe crap about free-speech.
  • For some reason when I read the title it made me think of one of those cheesy Fox Specials.
  • I find it very interesting that when all of the DMCA stuff went down in the US, most kernel hackers and other non-US people said, "Ah, stupid Americans. Oh well, we'll keep working outside the US." Alan Cox even went as far as censoring the Changelogs as I'm sure everyone remembers.

    Now, a similar law is popping up elsewhere, and everyone is up in arms. Why is it that the European version of the DMCA is going to stymie open-source development but not the US version?
  • Alan Cox fights war
    Against Uber-copyright
    No chance to survive

  • Ha! (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by GrammarPhone ( 513904 )
    First Le Pen, now this... Maybe this will put an end to some of the nose-in-the-air U.S. bashing that Europeans have become so fond of in the last decade or two...

    Not that I think the U.S. shouldn't be bashed, and in fact, I agree with lots of the international criticism of U.S. policies. But the fact of the matter is that this sort of insidiousness happens everywhere, so next time some harebrained senator tries to slide through a despicable law in America, don't just snicker and shake your heads at the stupid Americans. Start looking around for the traitors in your own government who would sell you out to the highest bidder. I guarantee you'll find one or two if you look.

    I'd like to help fight this EUCD, but I'm too busy keeping my own government out of my private life. Good luck, Europe. Hope you're more successful fighting this than we Americans were with the DMCA.

  • For Germans (Score:3, Interesting)

    by j7953 ( 457666 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @04:39PM (#3438675)

    There is an online petition, privatkopie.net [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.

  • I remember reading sometime ago about the Canadian government working on something similar to the DMCA.
    I was wondering if anyone had more information or could point me in the right direction to find some information.

  • Where are the organisations? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mvdwege ( 243851 ) <mvdwege@mail.com> on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @05:01PM (#3438813) Homepage Journal

    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)

  • Fair use (Score:4, Informative)

    by bbn ( 172659 ) <baldur.norddahl@gmail.com> on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @05:02PM (#3438826)
    The directive is made up of two parts. The first part defines copyright in general, and the second part is the DMCA equalent.

    The directive has a list of exceptions to copyright that each country can optional implement. One of those is the right to copy digital content for private purposes. The country I live in, Denmark, already allows this. It it is the equalent of fair use, except it is spelled clear out in the law.

    The DMCA part is confusing. It is required that the copyright holder makes it possible to copy in the circumstates where those exceptions apply. So in Denmark, the copyright holder needs to make it possible for me to copy the content for private purposes??

    Looks to me like the different interrest groups in EU could not agree on if they wanted freedom or the DMCA nightmare from USA. So they tried to do both, which will not work.
  • We had the 'world day of the intellectual property' last friday. It was announced by the GEMA, a german institution that collects money for tapes, CD-Rs, Radio-stations and so on to support starving artists from the TOP 10.
    An article about that event, regrettably in german, is here:

    http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/roe-26.04.02-0 00/

    That topic has a weak lobby in Europe. There are only very few activists who doubt the sense of legal protection of intellectual property.
    On the other hand nobody gives a shit about stealing intellectual property.
    Everybody makes copies. I do not know a single company, which has licensed all their software. I know many people who watch TV and listen to the radio without paying for that (which is illegal, at least in germany. You have to pay GEZ-Fees. i. e. about 5 $ for the right to own a radio and 15 $ for a TV. Monthly).

    http://www.gez.de

    Nobody has a problem with sharing burned CDs or downloading loads of music or films from the internet.
    I know absolutely nobody who you couldn't tell, that you do s.th. like that. It is not a problem to talk about that @ work. (Excepted the GEZ-thing. There are many GEZ-ads on TV which produce fear in that direction)
    On the other hand I do not think, that the europeans will rebel against that law. They will ignore it and will be a bit surprised and disappointed when they buy new devices, which make it impossible to copy stuff.
    But they will find their ways. It is possible, so it will be done. A tiny bit of quality loss by digital to analog? Who cares!

    some reasonable links, but they are all in german.
    http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/special/copy/11547/ 1.html
    http://www.heise-online.de/ct/02/02/080/
    http://www.heise-online.de/ct/02/08/018/
    http://www.freedomforlinks.de/
    http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/special/copy/defaul t.html

  • EFF (Score:2)

    by mihalis ( 28146 )

    I joined EFF and sent them $100 (as I recall). So far I think I've received precisely one letter, plus I never got my free t-shirt which I was supposed to get. Global digital rights is one thing, but denying a hacker a free t-shirt is a crime!

    Disclaimer :- I never actually checked into all this, maybe it was a time limited offer or something. I like to think my money went to a good cause. For heaven's sake I can't seem to even read everything the ACLU sends me.

  • petition (Score:2, Informative)

    by canned polar bear ( 577077 )
    This petition is directed to the European Parliament. Its goal is to warn European Authorities against the dangers of software patents. This petition is supported by the EuroLinux Alliance together with European companies and non-profit associations. http://petition.eurolinux.org/index_html?LANG=en
  • UK residents can contact their MP by first looking them up and then emailing them using this page [parliament.uk]. It uses a god awful web form but at least you can make your views known.

    I've emailed my MP Paddy Tipping (What a name!)

    As always, be polite but be firm!

    • Re:UK residents, contact your MP (Score:4, Informative)

      by IamTheRealMike ( 537420 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @05:04AM (#3441729)
      UK residents can contact their MP by first looking them up and then emailing them

      No, don't do this! Why? Simple, it doesn't work. MPs, as a general rule of thumb, are very busy and therefore pay more attention to messages from their electorate when more effort has been put in. An email, in the mind of an MP, requires zero effort. And they are right. A fax [faxyourmp.com] requires a bit more. A letter is the gold standard. Preferably hand written (as long as your writing is neat). Don't simply bash out a 5 minute email, write your MP a letter! It'll have more effect.

      Fax is tempting, but last time I sent a fax to my MP I never got a reply :( This time, I'll write on paper with my hands. They'll pay more attention, and let's face it, the extra effort is worthwhile.

  • What is the "European DCMA"? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dann0 ( 555381 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @07:14PM (#3439493)
    Please stop insulting our intellegence by Americanising the issues that appear on Slashdot.

    If I can understand what the European Union Copyright Directive is about, I'm sure that anyone can. It's not like the term is vague and incomprehensible.

    When compared to the DCMA, the issues are similar, but the stakeholders and the implications to them are different.

    I guess that it is only a matter of time before China's long standing censorship practices are simply referred to as the "Chinese DCMA".

  • An expert opinion (Score:3, Informative)

    by Pascal of S ( 23541 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @01:58AM (#3441348) Homepage
    According to this publication: Why the Copyright Directive is Unimportant, and Possibly Invalid [www.ivir.nl], dated 2000-something, the directive is not a clear (surpise, surprise) directive *at all*. It basically fails to do what they intended it to do: harmonize copyright law (which is basically a good thing).

    I like the final statement he makes:

    The European Court's decision raises the intriguing prospect of one or more disgruntled Member States challenging the validity of the Copyright Directive. Wouldn't that be the perfect way of getting rid of this monstrosity? I hereby offer my services to any Member State pro bono.
    I would love to take him up on that, except I'm not a member state, just a citizen.

  • Audio from Talk (Score:3, Informative)

    by thick_sliced ( 548064 ) on Wednesday May 01, 2002 @03:35AM (#3441561)
    You can listen to the audio of the talk:

    http://www.odl.qmul.ac.uk/eucd/ [qmul.ac.uk]

  • I'm Dutch. I never could protest the DMCA because it was American, and I have no saying in what Americans do with their country, of course.

    Now the DMCA comes to my country and it seems like there's no organized protest beyond Britain. Please point me to any organisation that bundles individual efforts of this matter and supports my country in that...

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