UK ‘Three Strikes’ plan under heavy fire
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- “A rift has opened between music’s creators and its record labels, with a broad alliance of musicians, songwriters and producers fiercely criticising the business secretary Lord Mandelson’s plans to cut off the broadband connections of internet users who illegally download music.”
So says The Guardian.
Mandelson’s plans aren’t Mandelson’s plans, however. They’d be more properly attributed to Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music who, together with the major Hollywood studios, Time-Warner, Fox, Disney, Columbia, Paramount, MGM, have intimidated weak-kneed governments such as those in the UK, France, New Zealand and Australia, into trying to implement what’s euphemistically called the Three Strikes Law.
It’s anti-P2P, anti-file sharing and anti-consumer designed to turn countries where it’s adopted into virtual copyright enforcement divisions, with ISPs acting as the fall guys.
But the entertainment cartels are are failing, and they’re failing dismally.
Punishing British music fans
Following a reported secret meeting with Hollywood capo David Geffen, Mandelson, secretary of state for business, innovation and skills (BIS), wanted legislative measures, “beefed up to include sanctions such as fines and cutting off of Internet access,” said Billboard.
The Guardian story, meanwhile, is ostensibly about the fact, “Thousands of music videos pulled from YouTube in a royalties dispute will go back online after peace broke out today between the website and the music industry,” it says.
And that’s because a new new licensing deal with PRS for Music, which collects music royalties, “has brought the six-month dispute to an end”.
It, “began when YouTube accused the PRS of proposing exorbitant new payment terms and led to the website fending off criticism from the PRS, which felt it was punishing British music fans by removing videos in the quest for greater profits,” says the story.
The Big 4 have, of course, been punishing not only British music fans, but their customers around the world, since 2003 when they used their US extortion unit, the RIAA, to launch their ridiculous sue ‘em all campaign in a fruitless bid to gain exclusive control of online music distribution.
Mandelson’s proposals ‘a step forward’
Be that as it may, the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca) and Music Producers Guild (MPG) have linked up to oppose the proposals to, “reintroduce the threat of disconnection for persistent file sharers, which was ruled out in the government’s Digital Britain report in June,” it says
According to a statement, “We vehemently oppose the proposals being made and suggest that the stick is now in danger of being way out of proportion to the carrot,” The Guardian says. “The failure of 30,000 US lawsuits against consumers and the cessation of the pursuit of that policy should be demonstration enough that this is not a policy that any future-minded UK government should pursue.”
Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s BPI, “argues that the UK’s 7 million file sharers cost the industry an estimated £200m a year and called Mandelson’s proposals ‘a step forward’,” it says, quoting Patrick Racklow, CEO of Basca, as declaring:
“The music industry is quite a scary place to be at the moment and we don’t know what it will look like in 10 years’ time, but if we find ways of licensing, new ways of doing things will evolve. What we can’t do is try to push things forward by looking back.”
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
The Guardian – YouTube and PRS make peace as musicians protest about plans to punish file sharers, September 3, 2009
are failing – BSA endorses three strikes plan, September 3, 2009
failing dismally – UK anti-file sharing move angers ISPs, August 26, 2009
Billboard – U.K. Govt Rebuffs File-Sharing Reports, August 17, 2009
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September 4th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Also from that same Guardian post:
“…a coalition of bodies representing a range of stars including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Damon Albarn attacks the proposals as expensive, illogical and ‘extraordinarily negative.’ ”
“The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca) and the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have joined forces to oppose the proposals to reintroduce the threat of disconnection for persistent file sharers, which was ruled out in the government’s Digital Britain report in June.”
McCartney?!?…
I was surprised to see his name among those speaking out against the 3-Strikes proposal.
September 4th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
@ DA:
“McCartney?!?⦔
Must be some kind of mistake.
Cheers!