Rights

The newly formed Australian Pirate Party came out swinging yesterday with a release criticising the international discussions currently being held in Korea to cement an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. These discussions had their roots back in 2006 when the US and Japan floated the idea of a new treaty to help build joint intellectual property rules to fight counterfeiting and piracy. June 2008 saw Australia included along with other countries

European Internet users accused of illicit file-sharing will not be disconnected on the whims of the entertainment industries. After an all night session European Union lawmakers agreed on a compromise text. Those accused will be entitled to a fair and impartial procedure, which will include the right to be heard

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, warned internet users today that the days of consequence-free illegal filesharing are over as he unveiled the government’s plan for cracking down on online piracy. Mandelson, speaking at the government’s digital creative industries conference, C&binet, confirmed that the internet connections of persistent offenders could be blocked – but only as a last resort — from the summer of 2011. He added that a legislate and enforce strategy was the only way to protect the intellectual property rights of content producers. The strategy, which will be officially set out in the government’s digital economy bill in late November, will involve a staged process of warning notifications with internet suspension as a last resort

In a great blow for consumers everywhere, the prospect of 3-strikes for copyright infringers has returned with a vengeance, as both the EU Council and French Constitutional court pushed forward with their respective legislation. HADOPI is alive, and the EU has shredded requirements for judicial oversight

Germany’s new Government coalition has spoken out against legislation that will allow alleged pirated to be disconnected from the Internet. The two parties, CDU and FDP, agree that such a law is not going to solve the piracy problem. In the coalition agreement that’s currently drafted both parties have agreed not to allow Internet disconnections for alleged copyright infringement offences. The decision is huge blow to the lobbyists of the movie and music industries, but not really unexpected

The results of a new poll reveal the extent of opposition to Lord Mandelson’s proposals for tough sanctions against alleged file-sharers. The survey, commissioned by the Open Rights Group, shows that not only is the public in favour of due process, but a third would be much less likely to vote for political parties supporting these proposals

New Canadian anti-spam and anti-spyware legislation is scheduled for a key vote on Monday. Michael Geist reports that the copyright lobby has been pushing to remove parts of the bill that would take away exceptions which currently allow spyware to be installed without authorisation. The copyright lobby is deeply concerned that this change will block attempts to track possible infringement through electronic means. There have also been proposals to extend the exemptions granted to telecom providers to include the installation of programs without the user’s express consent, which Geist says will ‘leave the door open to private, surreptitious surveillance — via Slashdot

Finland’s Ministry of Transport and Communications has made 1-megabit broadband Web access a legal right. According to the report, every person in Finland (a little over 5 million people, according to a 2009 estimate) will have the right of access to a 1Mb broadband connection starting in July. And they may ultimately gain the right to a 100Mb broadband connection. Just more than a year ago, Finland said it would make a 100Mb broadband connection a legal right by the end of 2015. Wednesday’s announcement is considered an intermediate step

The Guardian newspaper was forbidden by a judge from reporting a question in UK parliament. The press’s freedom to do so has been fought for since at least 1688 and fully acknowledged since the 19th century. At issue was a matter of public record — but the country’s libel laws meant that the newspaper could not inform the public of what parliament was up to. The question concerned the oil trading company Trafigura, the toxic waste scandal they are involved in, and their generous use of libel lawyers to silence those who would report on the whole thing. After tweeters and bloggers shouted about Trafigura all over the Internet, the company’s lawyers agreed to drop the gag request — via Slashdot

After its initial adoption in May, the original version of the 3 strikes Hadopi anti-piracy legislation was struck down by France’s highest legal authority after declaring the proposals unconstitutional. A modified version of the bill was accepted in July by the Senate and today it was passed in the National Assembly