The item you quote goes on, “However, the text does not demand that authorities in the 27 countries of the E.U. obtain a court order before cutting off someone’s Internet connection … ”

That’s freedom?

Cheers!

Read this for the truth, EU Breaks Deadlock in Debate Over Right to Internet Access http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/181472/eu_breaks_deadlock_in_debate_over_right_to_internet_access.html

After months of often bitter debate, European Union lawmakers reached agreement on how to preserve citizen’s rights to Internet access in a meeting that ended in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The issue, which pits citizens’ civil liberties against the rights of content owners such as record and movie companies to protect creative works on the Internet, has blocked the passage of a wide range of laws collectively dubbed the telecoms package.

Although the compromise reached by representatives of the European Parliament, the 27 national governments and the European Commission has still to be confirmed, it is seen as a watershed moment for the proposed laws, which aim to enhance competition among telecoms providers and to adapt users’ rights to better suit the Internet age.

The text of the telecoms package now contains a new Internet freedom provision that states that access to the Internet is a human right of every E.U. citizen, and that if authorities take away that right people must have the opportunity to defend themselves; citizens also have an automatic right to mount a legal challenge.

Just because you’ve drunk the kool-aid that says no-one can make money selling copies, or that you can’t imagine how anyone could, that doesn’t mean you deserve prosecution because someone liked your podcast so much they sent you a cheque.

Everyone deserves exemption from bankruptcy, not just lazy file-sharers, but hard working reviewers, DJs and remix artists too.

Would you have Kutiman strung up by the cartel the moment you found out he’d received a payment from a fan?

Where the heck did people get the idea that it’s evil to share or remix if you make any money out of it?