[A2k] Europe MEPs voting on the "Telecom Packet" today

[Manon Ress]

Europe votes on anti-piracy laws
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7492907.stm

Europeans suspected of putting movies and music on file-sharing
networks could be thrown off the web under proposals before Brussels.

The powers are in a raft of laws that aim to harmonise the regulations
governing Europe's telecom markets.

Other amendments added to the packet of laws allow governments to
decide which software can be used on the web.

Campaigners say the laws trample on personal privacy and turn net
suppliers into copyright enforcers.

Piracy plan

MEPs are due to vote on the so-called Telecom Packet on 7 July. The
core proposals in the packet were drawn up to help European telecoms
firms cope with the rapid pace of change in the industry.

Technological and industry changes that did not respect borders had
highlighted the limitations of Europe's current approach which sees
national governments oversee their telecoms markets.

"The current fragmentation hinders investment and is detrimental to
consumers and operators," says the EU document laying out the proposals.

But, say digital rights campaigners, anti-piracy lobbyists have
hijacked the telecoms laws and tabled amendments that turn dry
proposals on industry reform into an assault on the freedom of net
users.

	...Skype or even Firefox might be declared illegal in Europe if they
are not certified by an administrative authority
Benjamin Henrion, FFII
Among the amendments are calls to enact a Europe-wide "three strikes"
law. This would see users banned from the web if they fail to heed
three warnings that they are suspected of putting copyrighted works on
file-sharing networks.

In addition it bestows powers on governments to decide which programs
can be "lawfully" used on the internet.

A coalition of European digital rights groups have banded together to
galvanise opposition.

"[The amendments] pave the way for the monitoring and filtering of the
internet by private companies, exceptional courts and Orwellian
technical measures," said Christophe Espern, co-founder of French
rights group La Quadrature du Net (Squaring the Net) in a statement.

The UK's Open Rights Group said the laws would be "disproportionate
and ineffective".

The Foundation for a Free Internet Infrastructure (FFII) warned that
if the amendments were accepted they would create a "Soviet internet"
on which only software and services approved by governments would be
allowed to run.

"Tomorrow, popular software applications like Skype or even Firefox
might be declared illegal in Europe if they are not certified by an
administrative authority," warned Benjamin Henrion, FFII
representative in Brussels, in a statement.

"This is compromising the whole open development of the internet as we
know it today," he said.

It is not clear yet whether the amendments will be accepted in full.
In April 2008 European politicians voted against similar proposals
that would have seen suspected file-sharers thrown off the net.

Susan Hall, media partner at solicitors Cobbetts LLP said: "The
amendment will cause several problems, firstly, many broadband users
routinely transfer large files which are encrypted.

"Many of these are acting quite legitimately and in order to determine
whether or not such large files are or are not the produce of illicit
file sharing the ISP will have to carry out an unprecedented degree of
analysis of its customers' traffic. "Furthermore, computers are
frequently shared - within offices, within homes, within educational
institutions and inadvertently, where wrong-doers "piggy back" on an
inadequately secured Wi-Fi connection.

"All this raises the spectre of people losing internet access - for
reasons which are no fault of their own."


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Manon Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org,

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