[p2p-research] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] Red Alert on Net Freedoms! MEPs shall Reject the Gallo Report

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <jz at laquadrature.net>
Date: Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 5:23 PM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] Red Alert on Net Freedoms! MEPs shall Reject the
Gallo Report
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net


La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release

Permanent link:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/red-alert-on-net-freedoms-meps-shall-reject-the-gallo-report

Red Alert on Net Freedoms! MEPs shall Reject the Gallo Report


*** Paris, September 15th 2010 - The Gallo report [1]  on strengthening
copyright enforcement will be voted in the European Parliament on Wednesday,
September 22nd. Even if non-legislative, this dangerous text relies on
biased figures pushed by producers and publishers' lobbies to call for an
extension of repression. It opens the door to the creation of private
copyright police of the Net. All EU citizen can act to help the Members of
the European Parliament out of the blind repressive path, and adopt an
alternative resolution -more constructive and protective of consumers-
instead of the Gallo report. ***

In the direct line of the French President's copyright policy, the Gallo
report defends an obsolete vision of copyright based on controlling digital
copies. It relies on biased lobby-sponsored figures [2]. Instead of taking
stock of the failure of repressive policy in the past 10 years, the Gallo
report is but one more call for blind enforcement against users. It calls
for more repression, through legislative and "extra-legislative" measures
against filesharing, opening the door to the creation of private copyright
police and justice, considered both by ACTA [3] and the European Commission.
[4].

The approach defended by the Gallo report is based on a tragical
misunderstanding of the challenges facing the development of culture on the
Internet. It blames imaginary pains on file sharing, even though month after
month, every independent study concludes that the overall creative economy
of music, video and film enjoys a continuous growth and the net effect of
file sharing on welfare is positive. [5].

Meanwhile, the Gallo report does not address the real problems: the extreme
concentration of promotion on a limited number of titles, the growing
inequalities of revenues for creators, or the capture of most revenues by
parasitic players such as copyright stock-owners and heirs of deceased
artists. It fails to address the need to put in place mechanisms that can
reward and finance a much extended set of artistic, creative, expressive and
informational works. In reality, the type of enforcement proposed by the
Gallo report will only worsen every indicator of diversity and richness of
creativity.

"If they chose to endorse the original Gallo report, MEPs would make one of
the most ill-founded decisions in recent policy-making. They would close the
door on the open-minded exploration of solutions for building a sustainable
creativity at the scale of the Internet. The Gallo report goes against
citizens but also against the interests of most authors and artists."
declares Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of advocacy group La Quadrature du
Net.

In order to bring back some balance in the debate and protect citizens'
freedoms, an alternative resolution is being tabled by S&D, Greens and
other[?] Members of the European Parliament. If adopted, it will replace the
original Gallo report. The alternative proposal takes stronger steps than
the original report against counterfeiting of physical goods (potentially
harmful for the health and security of consumers). While strongly condemning
for-profit file sharing, it doesn't go further and calls for an open-ended
reflexion on other models than repression.

"All EU citizens worried that blind enforcement will harm their fundamental
freedoms, innovation and the Internet ecosystem must call Members of the
European Parliament [6] to urge them to vote for the alternative resolution.
We must not let an outdated vision of culture and pro-Sarkozy politicians
draw the future of EU policies concerning the Internet." concludes Jérémie
Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net.

Dedicated campaign page:
http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Gallo_report_plenary_vote_campaign



* Références *

1. initiative report (non-legislative text) initiated by the French EPP
-Member of Nicolas Sarkozy's party- Member of the European Parliament
Marielle Gallo, "on enforcement of intellectual property rights in the
internal market"

2. Check how the methodology of the main study used by the industry is
completely bogus:
http://blogs.ssrc.org/datadrip/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Piracy-and-Jobs-in-Europe-An-SSRC-Note-on-Methods.pdf

3. Article 2.18.3 of the draft leaked from the Washington DC round

4. The Gallo report calls for "extra-legislative measures", it recalls the
"voluntary agreements" praised by the EU Commission in its communication
from Sept. 11 2009 [link] which Internet service providers would be
encouraged to cooperate with the rightsholders for enforcement: access
restrictions, targeted filtering or bandwidth capping... all requested by
the entertainment endustries could be implemented through contract, without
a judge and a fair trial.

5. See in particular the recent paper by Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman
Strumpf, File-Sharing and Copyright, National Bureau of Economic Research
Series, February 2010, pages 19-55, online at
http://musicbusinessresearch.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/paper-felix-oberholzer-gee.pdfand
the US Government Accountability Office study concluding that
filesharing impact is deliberately inflated by industries, and that its
positive impact should be considered as well (
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-10-423). The non-exhaustive list of similar
studies is available on:
http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Studies_on_file_sharing_eng.

6. Dedicated campaign page:
http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Gallo_report_plenary_vote_campaign



** About la Quadrature du Net **


La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that promotes the rights and
freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for
the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding
principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge.

In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better
understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and
pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage
citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the
digital age.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs
including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and
Privacy International.

List of supporting organisations :
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-squaring-net-la-quadrature-du-net


** Press contact and press room **

Jérémie Zimmermann, jz at laquadrature.net, +33 (0)615 940 675

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room



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