[Ecommerce] Press Release: Music and Film Industry Tries to Hijack Serious
Crime Legislation in Europe]
Michelle Childs
michelle.childs@cptech.org
Wed Nov 23 10:47:54 2005
--
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Press Release: Music and Film Industry Tries to Hijack Serious
Serious Crime Legislation in Europe]
23 Nov 05, 14:40
For Immediate Release
Music and Film Industry Tries to Hijack Serious Crime Legislation in Europe
In a letter to all MEPs today, music industry body the Creative and Media
Business Alliance (CMBA) lobbied to co-opt the EU Data
Retention legislation currently being debated by the European
Parliament.
The newly-formed UK digital rights organisation the Open Rights Group
joined with other civil liberties groups across Europe to condemn
this lobbying against human rights, and called on the Alliance's
members - which include Sony BMG, Warner Music, Disney, and EMI - to
retract their demands.
The Data Retention draft framework was originally proposed by the UK,
Sweden, Ireland and France for "the prevention, investigation,
detection and prosecution of serious criminal offences such as
terrorism and organised crime" by forcing telecommunications and
internet service providers to retain 'traffic data' - information
about your telephone calls and web browsing activities.
The CMBA today demanded that this data be made available for the
prosecution of any crime, such as copyright infringement, and not
just serious organised crime and terrorism. British MEP Bill Newton Dunn
has already suggested an amendment to widen the scope of the
legislation in this way.
Taken with the upcoming IPRED2 legislation which creates new, Europe- wide
criminal offences for intellectual property infringement, this would let
the music industry pursue prosecutions through the criminal court entirely
at the cost of the taxpayer.
Both the Data Retention and IPRED2 directives are being "fast-
tracked" through the EU by short-circuiting normal legislative
processes and allowing for only one reading in the European
Parliament, instead of the normal two.
Sources from within the Parliamentary system indicate that some MEPs are
unaware that the usual democratic process is being bypassed.
Because of the tight timetable, MEPs will be put in the difficult
position of having only a couple of days to assess the Data Retention
proposal before the final vote on 13 December.
"The passing of the Data Retention directive would be a disaster not just
for civil liberties and human rights in Europe", said Open
Rights Group director Suw Charman, "it would also put a substantial
financial burden on telcos and ISPs which would be passed on to the
consumer either in the form of raised bills or through government
subsidies funded by the taxpayer."
If the CMBA is successful, the situation will be exacerbated by an
increased number of demands for access to the retained data as more cases
are to court by the music and IP industries. If British record labels set
up prosecution production lines like their American
counterparts, the system could crumble under the strain, hampering any
reasonable and legitimate enquiries into genuine terrorist or
serious crime activity.
Civil liberties groups such as Privacy International and European
Digital Rights (EDRi) have been campaigning against data retention. Ian
Brown, of the Open Rights Group, said:
"The British government claimed that Data Retention was essential in the
fight against terrorism and serious crime, but it has now become clear
that groups with commercial interests have their eye on the
same data. Charles Clarke cannot continue to pretend that this
legislation has been drafted purely for reasons of national security."
Gus Hosein, Senior Fellow at Privacy International, said:
"The EU has been claiming that data retention was some urgent policy
response to terrorist attacks. But they are carefully drafting this
legislation to ensure that it can be used for all purposes under the sun.
Ironically, the EU seems to be going at it alone: even the U.S. Bush
Administration is not proposing such a ludicrous policy, despite the
strong lobbying by Hollywood."
Sjoera Nas, Board Member of EDRi and Co-Director of Bits of Freedom, this
afternoon presented a petition against Data Retention to MEPs:
"Tomorrow morning there is a crucial vote on Data Retention by the LIBE
Committee. We have just given a petition with 58,000 signatures to the
Chairman of the Committee, and to MEPs from the Green Party, the Christian
Democrats and the Social Democrats. We hope that it
will be tabled at the LIBE meeting tomorrow, to point out that 58,000
Europeans have protested against Data Retention.
"Last minute negotiations with representatives of the European
Council have lead to what we feared the worst - a draconian directive that
flies in the face of our recommendations. We can only hope that the
European Parliament will come to its senses and realise that they cannot
turn Europe into a surveillance society overnight without
throwing away all human rights."
About the Open Rights Group
The Open Rights Group is a new digital rights campaigning group
based in London. It aims to increase awareness of digital rights
issues, help foster grassroots activity and to preserve and extend civil
liberties in the digital age.
For more information, contact Suw Charman, Executive Director, Open Rights
Group:
www.openrightsgroup.org
suw@openrightsgroup.org
Mobile: +44 (0)7813 769685
Contact details
Sjoera Nas, EDRi and Bits of Freedom: + 31 6 55 122345, sjoera@bof.nl
Gus Hosein, Privacy International: + 44 (0)207 955 6403, gus@privacy.org
=EF=BF=BC
--
Michelle Childs -Head of European Affairs
Consumer Project on Technology in London
24, Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX,UK.
Tel:+44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252.
Mob:+44(0)790 386 4642. Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607
http://www.cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology in Washington, DC
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA .Tel.:
+1.202.332.2670,Fax: +1.202.332.2673
Consumer Project on Technology in Geneva
1 Route des Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 6727
--
Michelle Childs -Head of European Affairs
Consumer Project on Technology in London
24, Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX,UK.
Tel:+44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252.
Mob:+44(0)790 386 4642. Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607
http://www.cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology in Washington, DC
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA .Tel.:
+1.202.332.2670,Fax: +1.202.332.2673
Consumer Project on Technology in Geneva
1 Route des Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 6727
--
[ Converted text/html to text/plain ]
23 Nov 05, 14:40
For Immediate Release
Music and Film Industry Tries to Hijack Serious Crime Legislation in Europe
In a letter to all MEPs today, music industry body the Creative and Media
Business Alliance (CMBA) lobbied to co-opt the EU Data Retention legislatio=
n
currently being debated by the European Parliament.
The newly-formed UK digital rights organisation the Open Rights Group joine=
d
with other civil liberties groups across Europe to condemn this lobbying
against human rights, and called on the Alliance's members - which include
Sony BMG, Warner Music, Disney, and EMI - to retract their demands.
The Data Retention draft framework was originally proposed by the UK, Swede=
n,
Ireland and France for "the prevention, investigation, detection and
prosecution of serious criminal offences such as terrorism and organised
crime" by forcing telecommunications and internet service providers to reta=
in
'traffic data' - information about your telephone calls and web browsing
activities.
The CMBA today demanded that this data be made available for the prosecutio=
n
of any crime, such as copyright infringement, and not just serious organise=
d
crime and terrorism. British MEP Bill Newton Dunn has already suggested an
amendment to widen the scope of the legislation in this way.
Taken with the upcoming IPRED2 legislation which creates new, Europe-wide
criminal offences for intellectual property infringement, this would let th=
e
music industry pursue prosecutions through the criminal court entirely at t=
he
cost of the taxpayer.
Both the Data Retention and IPRED2 directives are being "fast-tracked" thro=
ugh
the EU by short-circuiting normal legislative processes and allowing for on=
ly
one reading in the European Parliament, instead of the normal two.
Sources from within the Parliamentary system indicate that some MEPs are
unaware that the usual democratic process is being bypassed. Because of the
tight timetable, MEPs will be put in the difficult position of having only =
a
couple of days to assess the Data Retention proposal before the final vote =
on
13 December.
"The passing of the Data Retention directive would be a disaster not just f=
or
civil liberties and human rights in Europe", said Open Rights Group directo=
r
Suw Charman, "it would also put a substantial financial burden on telcos a=
nd
ISPs which would be passed on to the consumer either in the form of raised
bills or through government subsidies funded by the taxpayer."
If the CMBA is successful, the situation will be exacerbated by an increase=
d
number of demands for access to the retained data as more cases are to cour=
t
by the music and IP industries. If British record labels set up prosecution
production lines like their American counterparts, the system could crumble
under the strain, hampering any reasonable and legitimate enquiries into
genuine terrorist or serious crime activity.
Civil liberties groups such as Privacy International and European Digital
Rights (EDRi) have been campaigning against data retention. Ian Brown, of t=
he
Open Rights Group, said:
"The British government claimed that Data Retention was essential in the fi=
ght
against terrorism and serious crime, but it has now become clear that group=
s
with commercial interests have their eye on the same data. Charles Clarke
cannot continue to pretend that this legislation has been drafted purely fo=
r
reasons of national security."
Gus Hosein, Senior Fellow at Privacy International, said:
"The EU has been claiming that data retention was some urgent policy respon=
se
to terrorist attacks. But they are carefully drafting this legislation to
ensure that it can be used for all purposes under the sun. Ironically, the =
EU
seems to be going at it alone: even the U.S. Bush Administration is not
proposing such a ludicrous policy, despite the strong lobbying by Hollywood=
."
Sjoera Nas, Board Member of EDRi and Co-Director of Bits of Freedom, this
afternoon presented a petition against Data Retention to MEPs:
"Tomorrow morning there is a crucial vote on Data Retention by the LIBE
Committee. We have just given a petition with 58,000 signatures to the
Chairman of the Committee, and to MEPs from the Green Party, the Christian
Democrats and the Social Democrats. We hope that it will be tabled at the L=
IBE
meeting tomorrow, to point out that 58,000 Europeans have protested against
Data Retention.
"Last minute negotiations with representatives of the European Council have
lead to what we feared the worst - a draconian directive that flies in the
face of our recommendations. We can only hope that the European Parliament
will come to its senses and realise that they cannot turn Europe into a
surveillance society overnight without throwing away all human rights."
About the Open Rights Group
The Open Rights Group is a new digital rights campaigning group based in
London. It aims to increase awareness of digital rights issues, help foster
grassroots activity and to preserve and extend civil liberties in the digi=
tal
age.
For more information, contact Suw Charman, Executive Director, Open Rights
Group:
www.openrightsgroup.org
suw@openrightsgroup.org[1]
Mobile: +44 (0)7813 769685
Contact details
Sjoera Nas, EDRi and Bits of Freedom: + 31 6 55 122345, sjoera@bof.nl[2]
Gus Hosein, Privacy International: + 44 (0)207 955 6403, gus@privacy.org[3]
=3D=3D=3DReferences:=3D=3D=3D
1. mailto:suw@openrightsgroup.org
2. mailto:sjoera@bof.nl
3. mailto:gus@privacy.org
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