By Tony Smith for The
Register
This article has been reproduced from The Register, with
permission
The NCC believes it's disproportionate to invoke ever-tougher
penalties for individuals found guilty of infringing intellectual
property laws. The key word is 'individuals', because the NCC sees
a clear difference between consumers copying content and "organised
criminal gangs" doing the same.
There is a difference the latter are motivated solely by
financial gain while consumers generally aren't. At the same time,
because technology has made it so easy for consumer to duplicate
content, the effect on copyright holders is increasingly the same
whoever does the copying.
"The European Commission must think again before bringing in new
and tougher intellectual property laws," said the NCC's policy
director Jill Johnstone. "Criminal sanctions for infringing
copyright holders' rights must be applied only to organised crime -
not to individual citizens making use of new technologies."
"Moves are afoot in Brussels to tighten up enforcement of
intellectual property laws," she added. "It could mean consumers
facing criminal sanctions and a criminal record for sharing
creative content."
Alas, just as the EC is failing to differentiate between pirates
and those who copy for convenience - which we think are the people
the NCC has in mind: those folk who copy CDs so they can also play
songs in the car, say - the NCC similarly fails to appreciate
there's a difference between a consumer who engages in what might
be termed a 'fair use' and another who posts thousands upon
thousands of new songs for anyone and everyone to plunder.
"Any new laws must be very clear on this point and must strike a
balance between right holders’ interests in getting a fair return
and the public and consumer interests of fair access and use, and
the encouragement of innovation," added Johnstone.
Her language puts her dangerously close to the techno-utopian
camp, but still Johnstone and the NCC are correct on at least one
point: future EC legislation does need to define closely what is
reasonable copying - ripping a CD so you can play it on your iPod,
an act currently illegal in the UK though not in some other
European countries - and making it possible for anyone to steal
music. In short, there needs to be a clear distinction made between
the private and public domains.
