[ga] Copyright dogmatism ridiculously strikes the European Parliament.

["Jeffrey A. Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

  It is my belief that ICANN and their Accredited Registries,
Registrars, and/or any new Registries for TLDs will be significantly 
impacted.

See:

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/copyright-dogmatism-ridiculously-strikes-european-parliament

** Paris, Jan 26th - The European Parliament's committee for legal
affairs (JURI) voted the Medina report on Copyright last week. This
report goes against its initial objective to account on the failure of
the 2001 copyright directive. It only contains ridiculous repressive
measures dictated by the entertainment industries, and goes as far as
denying the Commission's ongoing studies. Among its recommendations are
"graduated response", content filtering, Internet service providers
liability, denial of copyright exception, etc. It will be up to the
Members of European Parliament (MEPs) to protect their electors by
strongly rejecting this report.**


The report[1] from Spanish socialist MEP, Manuel MEDINA ORTEGA (helped
by Janelly FOURTOU and Jacques TOUBON), voted in JURI committee on Jan
20th, is the most extreme and ridiculous text about copyright seen in a
long time from the European Parliament (EP). It will soon be proposed to

vote in plenary for a resolution of the EP[2].

The initial objective was to react to the lessons that European
Commission draws from 7 years of application of the copyright in the
information society directive. As it has been already the case at
several instances in the past, the committee has taken a narrowly
dogmatic view. It ignored the evidence of harmful effects of the text in

cause, even when such evidence was presented in the independent study
commissioned by the European Commission.

"The Medina report is ridiculous and full of repressive measures. It is
in total contradiction with what MEPs voted twice against 'graduated
response' and with the realities of Internet. It only favours
entertainment industries and doesn't contain anything for culture, the
artists, or their public." explains J?mie Zimmermann, co-founder of La
Quadrature.

The recommendations of the JURI committee, made without reference to any

study, consultation, or sounds analysis, anticipate the result of works
led by the Commission[3]. They look like the complete wish list of the
entertainment industry against Internet and its users:

* graduated response: The report recommends "three strikes" schemes
against unauthorised file sharing for all Europe, including cooperation
with ISP based on denunciations by the entertainment industries (points
31, 37)

* Internet content filtering: The recommendations ask for the deployment

of technologies for filtering content "for identification and
recognition, [...] with a view to distinguishing more easily between
legal and pirated products" that totally contradicts the very nature of
Internet. (point 35)

* Internet access providers liability: the report "Invites reflection on

the responsibility of internet access providers in the fight against
piracy;" including the objective of making service providers liable for
content published by their users. (points 32, 36, 37)

* Denial of copyright exceptions: its conclusions on copyright
exceptions are anticipating the result of the public consultation
launched by the European Commission on "Copyright in the knowledge
economy" by stating that any reform of the 2001 copyright Directive is
undesirable, that the existing regime for copyright exceptions is
undesirable, and that there is no need for new exceptions. This archaic
position undermines creativity, interoperability, and innovation.
(points 3, 20, 23, 25)

La Quadrature invites EU citizens to ask their MEPs to strongly reject
the Medina report in plenary. A wiki-based tool, Political Memory is
available to help contacting MEPs and keeping track of their votes on
these crucial issues.

"MEPs must stand against JURI's position and reject this report. A few
months away from the elections, voters will watch carefully if MEPs
represent their interest or the interests of decaying industries waging
war on their clients." Zimmermann concludes.

Regards,

Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 284k members/stakeholders strong!)
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