Swedes unite against Big 4 music labels
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- For some reason, average Swedish citizens are upset by the latest entertainment industry effort to turn them into mindless CUs (Consumer Units).
“The corporate movie and music industries are close to having a self-serving Draconian law adopted in Sweden,” said p2pnet recently.
It’ll make it, “easier to hunt individuals suspected of illegal filesharing over the internet,” said The Local at the time and now, in a new report, “Forces are mobilizing quickly in a determined effort to defeat the measure, with 16,000 members having joined a group called Stoppa IPRED, it says.
Referencing the acronym for the European Union’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive, “on which the proposed legislation is based,” the Facebook group is adding 1,000 new members a day, “and has already begun bombarding Riksdag members with emails protesting the measure,” says The Local, continuing »»»
Christian Engström, vice chairman of the Pirate Party and one of the founders of the Facebook group, is pleased with the number of people who have joined the group, but remains concerned about the bill, which would make it easier for law enforcement officials to hunt down those suspected of illegally downloading and sharing copyrighted material.
According to Sweden’s proposal, copyright holders would be allowed to get a court order requesting the release of information about certain IP addresses if there is probable cause that someone has broken copyright laws.
“Regardless of what you think of file sharing, it’s wrong to leave police work up to private companies,” said Engström, “who also expressed fears that regular families in Sweden would likely start receiving threatening letters from record companies.”
Engström seems to think innocent families, “will end up paying whatever record companies demand in order to avoid the risk of losing in court and being forced to pay even larger sums,” the story.
Just like in the good old US of A.
p2pnet – Sweden ‘Hunt file sharers down’ law, October 24, 2008
The Local – Sweden one step closer to anti-filesharing law, October 23, 2008
The Local - Resistance mounts to new file sharing law, November 7, 2008
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November 10th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
the threatening letters is the least of the problem, after the letters come bullshit lawsuits with no regard of actual proof.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
And at the same time…
RIAA Bans Telling Friends About Songs
November 30, 2005 | Issue 41•48
LOS ANGELES—The Recording Industry Association of America announced Tuesday that it will be taking legal action against anyone discovered telling friends, acquaintances, or associates about new songs, artists, or albums. “We are merely exercising our right to defend our intellectual properties from unauthorized peer-to-peer notification of the existence of copyrighted material,” a press release signed by RIAA anti-piracy director Brad Buckles read. “We will aggressively prosecute those individuals who attempt to pirate our property by generating ‘buzz’ about any proprietary music, movies, or software, or enjoy same in the company of anyone other than themselves.” RIAA attorneys said they were also looking into the legality of word-of-mouth “favorites-sharing” sites, such as coffee shops, universities, and living rooms.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43029
November 11th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
“RIAA Bans Telling Friends About Songs”
That’s from 3 years ago, but it has to be absolutely the stupidest thing I have ever heard.