[ga] Re: [A2k] France to Ban Free Expression of Communications Software

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Seth and all,

Agreed.

It seems that the French government is motivated in this legislation
to be becoming a far less leader in liberty than is was once a leader
in the world of.

It would also seem that such legislation if passed in France would
isolate it's citizens in many ways from the rest of the free world
in expression and have huge ramifications in respect to Domain Names,
TLD's and a host of other internet related aspects.  That would be
a terrible travesty for its EU neibors, Frances own citizens, and free
trade throughout the world.

Seth Johnson wrote:

> They somehow can't seem to face the fact that there is no spoon.
>
> Law enforcement now becomes Agent Smith -- whose job is not to
> serve and protect you and defend your rights, but to serve and
> protect the spoon.
>
> Seth
>
> Jei wrote:
> >
> > France is outlawing all open source and
> > software without builtin DRM, mandatory
> > Internet filtering?
> >
> > http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/02/france_about_to_get_.html
> >
> > Friday, December 2, 2005
> > France about to get worst copyright law in Europe?
> >
> > France may soon enact the worst copyright law in Europe, sneaking it
> > through in a legislative session scheduled for December 22 and 23.
> >
> > Europe's equivalent to the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a
> > controversial directive called the EUCD. Each EU state is responsible for
> > implementing the minimum set of EUCD restrictions (which are far from
> > minimal!) but each state can exceed the minimum, and the entertainment
> > lobby pushes hard to see to it that they do. They've run amok in France,
> > subverting the lawmaking process with a farcical wish-list of penalties,
> > mandates and software bans.
> >
> > Copyfighters in France have published a detailed alert in French; what
> > follows is a loose, machine-assisted translation (substantive corrections
> > gladly sought):
> >
> > * A prohibition on all software that permits transmission [disposition is
> > unclear without greater context] of copyrighted material that does not
> > integrate both a watermark and DRM
> >
> > * A prohibition on marketing or advertising such software
> >
> > * These prohibitions include legal sanctions
> >
> > * DRM mandates for digital radio transmission
> >
> > * A universal wiretapping system for private communication [This is
> > defined elsewhere as a system to check for, say, music files attached to
> > email messages, and not one that would violate the "secret of private
> > correspondence".]
> >
> > * Creation of a universal filering system for all ISPs
> >
> > Link (Thanks, Paula!) (Thanks to "C" and Kirk for help with translation)
> > http://eucd.info/index.php?2005/11/14/177-droit-d-auteur-eucdinfo-devoile-le-plan-d-attaque-des-majors
> >
> > Update: The French Department of Culture has also threatened to ban
> > Free/Open Source Software:
> > http://www.fsffrance.org/news/article2005-11-25.en.html
> >
> > Friday November 18th, 2005, French Department of Culture. SNEP and SCPP
> > have told Free Software authors: "You will be required to change your
> > licenses." SACEM add: "You shall stop publishing free software," and warn
> > they are ready "to sue free software authors who will keep on publishing
> > source code" should the "VU/SACEM/BSA/FA Contents Department"[1] bill
> > proposal pass in the Parliament.
> > (Thanks, Rob!)
> >
> > Update 2 Here's a petition against this hijacking of the legislative
> > process (Thanks, Henri!)
> > http://eucd.info/petitions/index.php?petition=2
> >
> > http://www.fsffrance.org/news/article2005-11-25.en.html
> >
> > French Government Lobbied to Ban Free Software
> >
> > November 25, 2005, for immediate release
> >
> > Friday November 18th, 2005, French Department of Culture. SNEP and SCPP
> > have told Free Software authors: "You will be required to change your
> > licenses." SACEM add: "You shall stop publishing free software," and warn
> > they are ready "to sue free software authors who will keep on publishing
> > source code" should the "VU/SACEM/BSA/FA Contents Department"[1] bill
> > proposal pass in the Parliament.
> >
> > It appears that publishing Free Software giving access to culture is about
> > to become a counterfeiting criminal offence. Will SACEM sue France Télécom
> > R&D research labs for having published Maay and Solipsis (P2P pieces of
> > software used to exchange data)[2]?
> >
> > Up to this point, the rather technical debate surrounding the issues
> > addressed by DADVSI bill (copyright and neighbouring rights in the
> > information society) makes one ask: Just how much control do the Big
> > Players in the field of culture want to seize? It now looks like years of
> > quibbling have put an end to compromises.
> >
> > What should have been the last meeting of CSPLA[2] Sirinelli Commission
> > turned into an arranged battle dealing with the "VU/SACEM/BSA/FA Contents
> > Department" bill. EUCD.INFO[4] cofounder Christophe Espern, representing
> > Creative Commons France, had to argue for 13 hours to defend the right of
> > Free Software to exist, but he lost the argument. The preliminary
> > conclusions seem to regret that the bill "cannot be proposed by CSPLA in
> > before the deadline." Maybe the new meeting scheduled today, November
> > 25th, 2005, at 6:30pm, in the offices of the French Department of Culture,
> > aims to impose the text ? [*]
> >
> > "Havoc is breaking loose," says Christophe Espern. "How can people
> > possibly both pretend to defend culture and then want to ban the only
> > software giving universal access to it? Actually, the contradiction may be
> > only superficial: I think what they are truly after is the control of the
> > public... culture is just a excuse."
> >
> > Absurd as it may seem, the DADVSI bill will bring an indifferent public a
> > surprise gift [5] for Christmas nothing less than complete Orwellian
> > control of digital culture.
> >
> > We could avoid this disaster if the cabinet of Prime Minister started by
> > declaring the DADVSI bill a non emergency issue. This would give the
> > democratic debate a chance.
> > [*] The Sirinelli Commission adopted the bill proposal. This one will be
> > examined during the next plenary session of the CSPLA (December the 7th).
> >
> > References
> >
> > Update - 06/12/2005 : EUCD.INFO opened an English-readers section
> >
> > [1] VU/SACEM/BSA/FT bill
> > http://eucd.info/index.php?2005/11/14/175-exclusif-amendement-interdisant-les-logiciels-non-equipes-de-mesures-techniques
> >
> > [2] Maay and Solipsis
> >
> > [3] The Sirinelli Commission is a specialised commission part of the
> > Conseil supérieur de la propriété littéraire et artistique (CSPLA,
> > Artistic and Literary Property High Council). Its mission is to ponder the
> > possible responsibility of some intermediaries that would encourage or
> > promote counterfeiting by providing means or information on means and
> > methods (http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/cspla/oeuvrinternet.htm).
> >
> > [4] EUCD.INFO : www.eucd.info
> >
> > [5]
> > http://www.eucd.info/index.php?2005/11/14/177-droit-d-auteur-eucdinfo-devoile-le-plan-d-attaque-des-majors
> >
> > Notes about the organisations
> >
> > SACEM is the main company dealing with collective copyright management for
> > music in France. French RIAA.
> >
> > SNEP (Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique, national syndicate of
> > phonographic publishing), was created in 1922. Spokesman for its 48
> > members, it represents them towards the government, the MP, the
> > administration, other professional bodies, the media and the public.
> >
> > SCPP (Société Civile des Producteurs Phonographiques, civil company of
> > phonographic editors), gathers the money collected towards the users of
> > phonograms and videomusic users and redistributes it to its members (more
> > than 800 producers, including many independent producers and the main
> > international companies such as Sony BMG, EMI, Universal, and Warner). It
> > weighs more than 80% of the copyrights perceived by the French producers.
> >
> > FT - France Telecom, headquartered in Paris, France, is the former
> > monopoly provider in France and one of the largest provider of
> > telecommunications in the world.
> >
> > BSA - Business Software Alliance is an organisation founded in the USA and
> > currently without official status in most European countries, controlled
> > by Microsoft and a few other large members.
> >
> > VU - Vivendi Universal is one of the major players in the area of media
> > and telecommunications: entertainment creation and broadcasting,
> > production and broadcasting of films, music, and games (PC and
> > console-based).
> >
> > About Free Software Foundation France
> >
> > The FSF France (http://www.fsffrance.org/) is a non-profit organization
> > dedicated to all aspects of Free Software. Access to software determines
> > who may participate in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use,
> > copy, modify and redistribute software - as described in the Free Software
> > definition - allow equal participation in the information age. Creating
> > awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and
> > legally, and giving people freedom by supporting development of Free
> > Software are central issues of the FSF France.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > USC Title 17 Sec. 107. - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
> >
> > This material is distributed to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
> >
> > ------------------------
> > http://www.anti-dmca.org
> > ------------------------
> >
> > DMCA_Discuss mailing list
> > DMCA_Discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > http://lists.microshaft.org/mailman/listinfo/dmca_discuss
>
> --
>
> RIAA is the RISK!  Our NET is P2P!
> http://www.nyfairuse.org/action/ftc
>
> DRM is Theft!  We are the Stakeholders!
>
> New Yorkers for Fair Use
> http://www.nyfairuse.org
>
> [CC] Counter-copyright: http://realmeasures.dyndns.org/cc
>
> I reserve no rights restricting copying, modification or
> distribution of this incidentally recorded communication.
> Original authorship should be attributed reasonably, but only so
> far as such an expectation might hold for usual practice in
> ordinary social discourse to which one holds no claim of
> exclusive rights.
>
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Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
   Abraham Lincoln

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very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

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