[LINK] Copyright law threatening privacy

[Kim Holburn]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Copyright+threatening/1969025/story.html

> On Dec. 13, 1981, Poland's communist government declared martial law  
> to put down the Solidarity movement. Telephone lines went silent  
> across the country, and once service was restored, each time anyone  
> picked up the telephone they were greeted with a voice: "Rozmowa  
> Kontrolowana."
>
> "This conversation is being monitored."
>
....

> It is increasingly apparent that modern copyright law is utterly and  
> completely incompatible with the right to privacy. This is at the  
> core of the Pirate movement in Europe which broke through to elect  
> its first members of the European Parliament this summer, and the  
> Pirate Party of Canada, which is collecting signatures on its  
> website to register as an official political party as we speak.

....

> Given today's technological realities, this is no longer the case.  
> If we look at legislation that either exists or is tabled across the  
> Western world, sending a song to a friend by e-mail is a crime.  
> Posting even a short clip of a copyrighted video on a message board  
> for one's friends risks a fine whether the message board is public  
> or not, and taping a television show and passing the tape to your  
> mom or dad may be illegal as well.
>
> No one likes stealing, but the problem lies in the fact that current  
> copyright laws are completely unenforceable unless the government or  
> industry groups start to read every e-mail and analyze every form of  
> online communication done by citizens.
>
> Think "Rozmowa Kontrolowana," every time you sit down to write an e- 
> mail. Think Egypt, Burma or China, with your government openly  
> reading your mail looking for a reason to charge you with a crime.
>
....

> "If copyright is to be enforced in this new environment, that means  
> law enforcement and corporate interest groups must monitor every one  
> and zero that leaves my computer and that includes looking at the  
> letters to my lawyer, and doctor and wife.
>
> "I'm frankly not prepared to give them that right."
>
> Are you?
>


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request