[A2k] Financial Times: Secret deal aims to scuttle internet pirates

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aeecd740-0c55-11df-8b81-00144feabdc0.html

Secret deal aims to scuttle internet pirates

By Stanley Pignal in Brussels and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York

Published: January 28 2010 22:49 | Last updated: January 28 2010 22:49

Persistent illegal downloaders face having their internet links
disconnected under a secret trade deal being negotiated by developed
nations this week, according to activists and industry groups.

Leaked drafts of the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement say the
world=E2=80=99s biggest developed nations want internet service providers t=
o
be more responsible for the content they distribute =E2=80=93 and even cut
off repeat infringers of copyright legislation.

Analysts say the agreement, if ratified, would transform copyright law
in the US and European Union. So-called =E2=80=9Cthree strike=E2=80=9D laws=
 have
been contentious in the US and EU, in spite of aggressive lobbying
from copyright holders such as record companies and film studios for
countries to adopt them in order to curb illegal downloading.

EuroISPA, a group of 1,700 internet service providers in Europe, said
the measures being considered were =E2=80=9Csevere and wide-ranging,
including the possibility of users being disconnected from the
internet=E2=80=9D.

James Boyle, a law professor at Duke University in the US, said:
=E2=80=9CProposals include fines and imprisonment for non-commercial file
sharing, increasing the liability of internet service providers for
copyright infringements by their customers and much more.=E2=80=9D

The secrecy of the talks has prompted allegations that rights
holders=E2=80=99 groups are pushing for a behind-closed-doors agreement aft=
er
struggling to convince lawmakers in developed countries to crack down
on illegal file sharers.

Michael Bartholomew, director of Etno, which represents telecoms
network operators in Brussels, said it would be difficult for the EU
to ratify such rules. =E2=80=9CDisproportionate and wide-ranging measures
such as [content] filtering or the possibility of disconnecting
internet users would fully contradict users=E2=80=99 rights as currently
enshrined in EU law,=E2=80=9D he said.

The European Commission, which is negotiating on behalf of the bloc=E2=80=
=99s
27 member states, declined to comment.

Diplomats involved in the talks say the agreement, which has been
negotiated during the past two years, would not impose new legislation
on signatories but could mandate new obligations as far as punishing
internet users that breach existing laws. Countries involved include
the US, those of the EU, Japan and Australia. They met this week for a
seventh round of talks in the hope of concluding a deal this year.

La Quadrature du Net, a French internet freedom advocacy group, said
that without proper supervision =E2=80=9Cconditions are ideal for
entertainment lobbies to dictate their dream: enforcing a
fundamentally unadapted copyright regime in order to control the
internet and access to knowledge=E2=80=9D.

=E2=97=8F Chinese companies are better protected from cyberattacks than tho=
se
of any other nation, while governments often launch such assaults on
private companies, a new report signalled on Thursday, Daniel Dombey
reports from Washington.

A survey of 600 IT executives found more widespread use of security
measures such as encryption and user authentication in China than
anywhere else, with an adoption rate of more than 60 per cent. That
compared with 50-53 per cent for the US, the UK and Australia, the
next highest-ranked countries.



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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997