Big 4 labels on the rampage in Bulgaria
p2pnet.net news:- Bulgarian copyright cops did their best on behalf of Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG.
“Zealous enforcement by Bulgarian authorities against some Internet users and website owners has overstepped European Union bounds and should be investigated, Member of the European Parliament Antonyia Parvanova said,” according to New Europe, going on:
“She said officials have caused Internet clubs to go bankrupt and ruined the life of a website owner by prosecution she said was not warranted and which went to extremes to apprehend people who had not committed any crime.”
Parvanova says she’ll table a question to the European Commission and to the Council, “asking if these actions comply with EU law, and, in particular with Article 11 of the Chapter of Human Rights,” says the story, adding:.
“Her comments came as the European Parliament debated the IPRED2 directive (the second ‘Intellectual Property’ Rights Enforcement Directive), and some government actions in Bulgaria in regards to enforcement of copyright law, which she said are becoming a cause for concern”.
Initial steps aimed at controlling the clubs meant searches and seizures of equipment, but after two years of litigation, the cases were dismissed and the equipment returned to its owners, says New Europe, adding, “All the clubs went bankrupt despite of the fact that they were declared not guilty on all charges.”
Also See:
New Europe – Bulgarian crackdown on “pirate†Internet captures no one, May 12, 2007
If your Net access is blocked by goverment restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at thIs the endSurvey: How Did Copyright Infringement Become Equated with Robbery? (of the Net) nigh?zze University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
May 16th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
In the music industry’s eyes, profits come before human rights.
May 16th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
In the music industry’s eyes, profits come before human rights.