---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: La Quadrature du Net <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 6:18 PM Subject: [opennetcoalition] Private Copying: French Parliament Downsizes The Public's Rights To: [email protected] La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release Permanent link: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/private-copying-french-parliament-downsizes-... Private Copying: French Parliament Downsizes The Public's Rights *** Paris, November 23rd, 2011 – Members of the French Parliament are using a bill on private copying levy as an occasion to kill the copyright exception for private copying. Under the pretense of saving royalties collection, MPs have redefined fair use in the process. Giving in once more to pressure from the recording and movie industry, the French Parliament carries on Nicolas Sarkozy's repressive policy against the Internet and new cultural practices. *** Today, the French National Assembly begins express examination of the bill on private copying levy. Though this bill [1] is aimed at adapting the private copying levy to national and EU case law, Members of the Parliaments are giving in to the copyright industry's request to further narrow down fair use and the rights of the public. Indeed, a crucial amendment aims at conditioning the benefit of the exception for private copying to the legality of the sources used [2]. By introducing this notion of “lawfulness of the source”, MPs are forcing everyone to proceed to an in-depth legal analysis based on mostly impossible to determine elements in order to make a private copy. Was the source used to make a private copy lawful? If it was disseminated online, who uploaded it? Did this person have the author's authorisation? etc. Such questions will never, in practical terms, have an answer and will make copying unlawful by default. “By narrowing down the scope of the exception in this way, the public are being deprived of its rights. After years of a ruthless war against the sharing of culture between individuals on the Internet, French authors' rights law is hijacked once more by vested interests who want to protect their obsolete business models by limiting recognised user prerogatives.”, said Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net. “In the name of private copy levy, we are deprived of the right to copy! Such negation of the rights of the public is coherent with Nicolas Sarkozy's policies aimed at turning copyright into a repressive weapon against cultural practices in the hand of industrial lobbies. These political manoeuvres harm the legitimacy of copyright as a whole.”, said Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson of the citizen organisation. * References * 1. http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/dossiers/remuneration_copie_privee.asp 2. See, article 1st by the Cultural affairs committee : http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/ta-commission/r3953-a0.asp ** 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: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net ** Press contact and press room ** Jérémie Zimmermann, [email protected], +33 (0)615 940 675 http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room _______________________________________________ Opennetcoalition mailing list [email protected] http://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opennetcoalition -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens