p2pnet - rss feed: Gower report: jail file sharers
p2pnet.net News:- A huge fuss is being made about the fact the Gower report states, “Having reviewed the existing economic literature, we consider the case for an extension of the copyright term in sound recordings to be weak,” and it would be, “particularly inadvisable, given our present state of knowledge, for a rational policy-maker to extend the term of copyright in sound recordings,”.
Elderly rockers want more of what they already have and, “Some of the most famous names in music, including Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Cliff Richard, U2, Yoko Ono [Yoko Ono?] , Barry Gibb, Petula Clark and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa [?], were among 4,500 artists who put their names to a newspaper advertisement yesterday, calling on the government to extend the copyright in sound recordings to 95 years,” says Guardian Online.
But hold on! - suggests our mate Chris Ovenden in his the peer blog.
I’m snowed under at work, but someone has to say this: Andrew Gowers is a reactionary old goon who should be ignored. He’s the bloke who’s supposedly going to recommend that the government not extend the period of copyright beyond the current 50 years.
Well, pardon me if I don’t give even one cheer. While a lot of fuss has been made about Cliff Richard’s impending loss of earnings from hits he had in the 1950s, and how marvelous it is that some ex-editor of a right-wing paper has seen sense in leaving our times’ most controversial area exactly as it is, not a lot has been said about the sting in the tail of his report: that files sharers are recommended to be lumped in with forgers and imprisoned for up to 10 years.
Does this man actually live in the same century as the rest of us? It’s bad enough that people who want to share their delight in new music are criminalised under existing legislature, drawn up times when copying music cost money.
Now, if this old duffer has his way, practically everyone with a computer is heading straight to jail.
The man’s an idiot. Don’t give him the time of day.
[Ovenden is a self-confessed technology freak who says he always ends up writing about culture, or who is perhaps a culture nut continually drawn towards the hi-tech, he plays guitar, makes websites and teaches. Editorships of various on- and offline publications lurk in his past, “and possibly his future”.]
Also See:
huge fuss - Gower on UK copyright extentions, December 7, 2006
Guardian Online - Ageing rockers and evergreen stars in cash plea, December 7, 2006
the peer - Copyright penalties to be extended, December 7, 2006
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December 11th, 2006 at 11:57 am
I didn’t read it like that but maybe I’m being optimistic. I understood:-
- No new controls on file sharing
- ISPs encouraged to voluntarily work with their association and hence with th BPI to stop file sharing
- Increased penalties for commercial counterfeiting.
It does seem to be extremely hard to discuss this rationally and to separate *commercial* counterfeiting for *profit* from *private* individuals sharing files for *free*.
But then he also suggested that while copying for pesonal use should be made legal it shouldn’t be retrospective and should only apply to purchases made after the law changes. And for old CDs, the record companies should sell us a blanket license to copy. As if! So clearly he is a “reactionary old goon who should be ignored.”