EFF: Consumers, Librarians, and Innovators Tell EU 'We're Not Criminals'

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Contact:

Eric Josefsson
   European Affairs Coordinator
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   erik@eff.org


Danny O'Brien
   International Outreach Coordinator
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   danny@eff.org
   +1 415 436-9333 x121

Consumers, Librarians, and Innovators Tell EU 'We're Not
Criminals'

Coalition Submits Fixes to European Parliament to Prevent
Vague New Copyright Crimes

Brussels - The Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's)
European Office today announced a broad coalition aimed at
fixing a poorly drafted intellectual property enforcement
proposal that could make criminals of thousands of people
in the European Union.

The Second Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement
Directive (IPRED2) -- set for vote in the European
Parliament early next week -- makes "aiding, abetting, or
inciting" intellectual property infringement on a
"commercial scale" a criminal offence.  However, IPRED2
defines criminal offences so vaguely that creators of
legitimate websites, Internet service providers, and even
librarians could be investigated by the police and face
criminal records as well as fines of hundreds of thousands
of euros.

The coalition battling against IPRED2 includes the
Brussels-based European Consumers Organisation (BEUC), the
European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation
Associations (EBLIDA), the Free Software Foundation Europe
(FSFE), and the Foundation for a Free Information
Infrastructure (FFII).  The group sent an open letter to
the European Parliament today, urging members to support
amendments that would protect consumers, innovators, and
researchers.

"Criminal law needs to be clear to be fair.  IPRED2 as it
is currently drafted is neither," said Erik Josefsson,
European Affairs Coordinator for EFF.  "These amendments
clarify that criminal sanctions should be saved for true
trademark counterfeiters."

IPRED2 also proposes allowing entertainment company
representatives to join police in investigating businesses
that they claim infringe -- or even "incite" infringement
-- of their intellectual property.

"Such secondary liability is a major threat for software
developers and Internet service providers," said Ante
Wessels of FFII.

"The current draft of IPRED2 creates legal uncertainty and
confusion, which will act as a barrier for libraries and
archives in their efforts to digitize and bring digital
information to end users," said Andrew Cranfield, Director
of EBLIDA.

The next vote on IPRED2 is scheduled for April 25 in
Strasbourg, France.

For the open letter to the European Parliament:
http://www.copycrime.eu/files/openletter-ipred.pdf

For more on IPRED2:
http://www.copycrime.eu/

To take action and tell your MEP to support these
amendments:
http://www.copycrime.eu/petition

For more on EFF Europe:
http://www.eff.org/global/europe/

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_04.php#005206

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


     -end-

_______________________________________________
presslist mailing list
https://falcon.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/presslist