Dumbass EU law proposed to cut off file sharers: ACT NOW!

[rozk]

WRITE TO YOUR MEP NOW!!!!!

The '3 strikes and you're out' plan to cut those accused of copyright file sharing off the net - note accused, not found to be guilty - has been sneaked into an EU telecoms bill after it was explicitly defeated earlier this year.

This bill would require all ISPs to monitor all traffic, would doubtless catch those sharing files legally in the net (eg. I frequently shift around large files full of data - how is the ISP to tell if these are legal or not?), and effectively brings collective punishment since you might be cut off as a result of the actions of someone else using your net connection (with or without permission).

The bill is also technically incompetent since the increased use of encrypted P2P and Tor will make it very difficult to even guess reliably at who's sending what to who.

It's not just me worried about this, see a write up on this proposal by a UK Law Professor as well as comments by LJ's own Independent Diplomat.

And these measures are due to be voted on in the European Parliament TOMORROW.

Write to your MEP now using eg. WriteToThem in the UK or use this tool to find out who your MEPs are if you're outside the UK.

gakked from purplecthulhu

I speak as someone who needs to download television shows for purposes that are mostly scholarly - writing some of the stuff I write would be impossible if I had to wait for UK terrestrial airing.

Comments

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Yes that is the main angle I have been pushing. This dispute at this time is not about fair use/fair dealing and it would probably help not to mix that in.

The other major three planks for me are:

this is law making by stealth and misdirection , and

it wil involve a serious sentence delivered by private bodies without court or jury involved

it will also involve probably automatic disclosure of personal information by ISPs contrary to the ECHR rights of privacy and data protection rules.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I'm also taking the line that it is the sort of thing that brings the European Parliament and EU into disrepute, being an almost textbook example of back-door unaccountable lawmaking. Make MEPs feel that something is being sneaked past them, and you might make them annoyed enough to start poking around with it.

Of course, the slight problem for me as a Londoner is that I have nine MEPs, one of whom - Syed Kamall - is sizeable responsible for this. I'm targetting those of the others who I think might be least sympathetic to this plan, especially regarding the privacy and DP issue.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

It probably doesn't hurt to write to Syed even though he won't change his vote - let him know his tactics are unpopular.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Indeed - it was on that basis that I wrote to all of them. In the past I've had useful dealings with several of them, especially Gene Lambert. Syed Kamall was not one of them but, in the same sense that Westminster MPs measure their constituents' opinions by number of letters, he might think twice if he gets enough complaints.