[LINK] European P2P about face.

[Tom Koltai]

>From --> http://www.p2pnet.net/story/21432


Corporate plans to introduce an anti-P2P, anti-file share law in Europe
may now be permanently buried.

With the EU parliament scheduled to vote on an EU telecom reform
package, member states called for a new paragraph, "prohibiting national
authorities from excluding users from the internet without a court
order," said p2pnet <http://www.p2pnet.net/story/21103>  on Tuesday.

"This represents another telling blow to entertainment cartel efforts to
muscle governments into passing laws which would compel ISPs to act as
copyright cops who'd be forced to cut off internet connections for
clients found 'guilty' of sharing corporate 'product' online," our story
went on.

Now, "The European Parliament on Wednesday rejected a long-planned
revision of the Continent's telecommunications laws because of a
controversial provision to punish Internet pirates," says the New York
Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/technology/07iht-telecoms.html?ref=te
chnology> ,  continuing:

"In Strasbourg, the Parliament's lower house, by a vote of 404 to 56,
passed an amendment to the telecommunications package making it illegal
for any E.U. country to sever Internet service unless a citizen is found
guilty in court, effectively blocking the broad revision.

"The amendment was intended as a rebuff to a proposal before the French
National Assembly that would allow a government agency to sever Internet
service based on industry complaints.

"France had lobbied heavily for the provision in the hope that the
Parliament's support would forestall legal challenges to its plan."

Actually, France wasn't doing the lobbying. It was the members of the
corporate movie and music industries who've been trying, and failing, to
use various national governments to further vested corporate interests.

The British government seemed to be falling in line with entertainment
cartels plans to use ISPs as corporate Copyright enforcement police.

But then David Lammy, the UK minister responsible for intellectual
property, "ruled out a 'three strikes' law denying internet access to
illegal file sharers," saying cutting off users, was "not the right road
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/21039> ".

South Korea has, "apparently fallen in line
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/19820>  with the corporate entertainment
industry plan to have ISPs act as copyright cops, turning in their own
customers so they can be victimised as file sharing criminals and
thieves by the cartels, the scheme is for the most part coming apart at
the seams with citizens making it clear they, not the movie studios and
music labels, are in charge," said p2pnet
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/20004>  recently.

"The Big 4 are in the midst of huge international campaign in another
phase of their efforts to dominate, if not totally control, the way
music is distributed online, and by whom," said another story
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/19163> , going on >>>

Under it, they hope to force governments to toe the corporate line by
introducing legislation to compel local ISPs to both identify customers
accused by the labels of being illegal distributors of copyrighted
music, and to ultimately terminate their accounts.

New Zealand was the first country to officially cave in to corporate
demands, but is now wavering under public pressure
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/19074>  to abandon the plan, inspired by
Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music.

France, the first country to get firmly behind the
three-strikes-and-you' re-out legislation, seemed poised to adopt it,
but it, too, is coming under increasing public pressure
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/19169>  to drop the massive corporate DRM
(Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control scheme.

In Britain, the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), "argues
that ISPs cannot prevent illegal downloading
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/18795>  because they 'are no more able to
inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than
the Post Office is able to open every envelope',"  p2pnet said recently.

We added:

"The European Parliament has condemned
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/19231>  France's so-called HADOPI
<http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15890>  law, turning its back on every
proposed amendment, rejecting the corporate music inspired 'graduated
response' for the third time, said La Quadrature du Net
<http://www.laquadrature.net/en/the-european-parliament-rejects-graduate
d-response-for-the-third-time#footnote2_0572f4k> .




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