p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- The money spent by the corporate movie and music companies in bribes and ‘contributions’ to force industry friendly ‘laws’ through various legislations would undoubtedly be enough to support a medium-sized country.

They’re touting France and New Zealand as their two ’successes,’ but although their efforts seem close to bearing fruit, there’s still a good chance they’ll be stymied.

The cartels also thought Sweden was a done deal, with Swedish minister of justice Beatrice Ask behind it, at the same time belying her statement that, “Sweden must be a country where everyone is safe and secure, no matter who they are or where they live’,” said p2pnet recently.

But, “Support is weak among Swedes for the new IPRED copyright law designed to make it easier to investigate suspected cases of illegal file sharing, a new poll shows,” says The Local, going on:

“Almost half of Swedes, 48 percent of the 1,000 interviewed, consider the law to be wrong while only 32 percent are in favour, a new poll from Sifo shows.

“The strongest opposition to the law can be found among young men, 15-29-years-old, Svenska Dagbladet writes. 79 percent of them oppose the law which will come into force on April 1st.

“Those least negative to the law are the over-65s, with 27 percent against while 34 percent are in favour.”

The file sharing law, based on the European Union’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), “will allow courts to order internet operators to hand over details that identify suspected illegal file-sharers,” says The Local.

“Copyright holders would then be free to contact the file sharer in question and demand that they suspend their activities or risk prosecution” —-

—-just like in France and New Zealand.

“Opponents from the Left and Green parties claim the measure is a threat to democracy and personal integrity because it gives companies and copyright holders too much power to investigate and demand compensation from individuals for alleged copyright infringement.

“The government contends that the law is necessary to protect the rights of film makers, authors, and artists by allowing them to earn a living from their creations.”

The Wireless Defense

However, where there’s a will — and a WiFi — there may be a way.

Late last year a man accused by Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s IFPI of infringing Big 4 music copyrights successfully used the so-called ‘wireless defense’ — ie, he said someone else must have accessed his wireless router.

With that in the background, Stoppa IPRED was started in Sweden to make it clear to the movie and music industries that consumers can do a lot more than merely consume.

On its site,  “Want more facts about what IPRED1 means?” – asks Stoppa IPRED, suggesting visitors might want to remember, “it is only to say that you have an open wireless network (which anyone can have used) to make this law completely toothless”. [Google translation]

Posted TorrentFreak »»»

The IFPI … accused two Danish women of being Internet pirates, after they claimed to have monitored illicit file-sharing activities on an IP address registered to one of them. The IFPI demanded $62,000 in compensation from the pair, stating that even if their Wi-Fi had been used without their knowledge, they are ultimately responsible for what happens on their Internet connection. Eventually a court ruled in favor of the women and acquitted them of all charges, much to the displeasure of the IFPI.

Now, the IFPI has suffered another defeat, again in a `wireless defense` case. Previously, a middle-aged man from Randers, Denmark, was found guilty of Internet piracy in a case brought by the IFPI on behalf of music copyright holders. The man was ordered to pay compensation of around $11,000 and told to delete the infringing files from his computer. The defendant denied that he had done any of the alleged infringing and claimed that he operated an unencrypted wireless network which anyone could access.

However, in the Vestre Landsret, one of Denmark`s higher courts, the decision of the Municipal Court in Randers has been reversed, according to a Comon.dk report.

The court found that the IFPI held no proof that the IP address owner – the defendant – was the same person that carried out the infringements. This fact – that an IP address does not positively identify an infringer – is the same worldwide.

The lawyer for the defense, Per Overbeck, who also successfully defended the two women who won their `wireless defense` case in another of Denmark`s higher courts, noted a difference in the cases, but one which didn`t affect the outcome for the defendants:

The two women who were acquitted by the Østre Landsret, were in a household with multiple computers, so more people in the household had access to them, he said. The man in Randers was living alone in his apartment and had only one computer, but his apartment is in a complex so in principle many others can access his Internet connection.

Stay tuned.

bearing fruit – Still a chance to defeat French 3 strikes law, March 18, 2009
done deal – Sweden passes anti-P2P, anti-fileshare law, February 26, 2009
p2pnet – Sweden bends to Big 4 labels, January 22, 2009
The Local – Swedes say no to copyright law: poll, March 17, 2009
TorrentFreak – IFPI Loses Another P2P `Wireless Defense` Case, October 7, 2008

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 12:39 pm and is filed under P2P, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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