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Re: [News] Europe Wants to Tighten Eavesdropping, Open Source Software Provides an Answer

__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Wednesday 21 March 2007 17:37 \__

> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> EU proposal sets sanctions for copyright violations
>> 
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| Companies from across IT face criminal sanctions, including prison time
>>| for employees, if their networks, software programs or online services
>>| are ever used to carry illegally copied material such as music or film,
>>| according to a draft law from the European Commission supported Tuesday
>>| by a committee of the European Parliament.
>>|
>>| [...]
>>|
>>| The controversial draft law has sparked an outcry, uniting rivals
>>| within the IT industry, ranging from free and open source software
>>| advocates, the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, at
>>| one end to a lobbyist for the world's biggest software companies,
>>| the Business Software Alliance (BSA), at the other.
>> `----
>> 
>>
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2007/032007-eu-proposal-sets-sanctions-for.html?fsrc=rss-linux-news
>> 
> 
> The spin being issued around this area is so thick that it's almost
> impossible to keep up with what is actually being debated.  For example,
> the music industry really want to push the idea that downloads are
> illegal, so whenever they mention the term download, they refer to it as
> illegal.  However, is downloading a copyrighted file illegal at all?  I
> suspect that it might not be.  Probably, in most cases, it is quite
> legal, although the initial upload might have been illegal.  This is my
> whole issue with the way the spin is working here...
> 
> Not that I would in any way condone copyright violation, of course, but
> I have a feeling that the way the EU lawmakers are approaching this, the
> MPAA/BPI etc. are likely to get what they wanted, but find that it's
> note quite what they were expecting.

Downloads already have have a negative connotation. Even when the shopkeeper
hands over a box of blank CDs there's this assumption that copyrights will
be infringed (and there's taxation to account for that, regardless of how
the CDs get used... maybe even for daily backups). It's like asking for
toilet paper to wipe your nose with. It's embarrassing. But need it be?

-- 
                ~~ Best wishes 

Roy S. Schestowitz      | Reclaim your workstation - install GNU/Linux today
http://Schestowitz.com  |  GNU is Not UNIX  |     PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
roy      pts/5                         Tue Mar 20 02:58 - 02:58  (00:00)    
      http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine

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