Love those Eurocrats! New advances in censorship and DMCAing [fs]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

The GILC News Alert is the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty
Campaign, an international coalition of organizations working to protect 
and enhance online civil liberties and human rights.

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[2] Showdown looms for controversial French digital economy bill 
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The French Senate is expected to start discussions soon on a proposal 
that critics say will erode civil liberties online.

The French digital economy bill (known as le projet de loi sur la 
confiance dans l'économie numérique or LEN), which is supposed to help 
France comply with a June 2000 European Union (EU) directive, includes 
language that would make Internet service providers liable for content 
on websites that they host. More specifically, they would have to "act 
promptly" to take down material "after becoming aware of their unlawful 
nature" or face legal retribution-a process that currently requires 
judicial approval. The bill also essentially eliminates the doctrine 
that email should be treated as "private correspondence," creating the 
possibility that such messages can be more easily intercepted by third 
parties. The French Senate is expected to debate the proposal on 8 April 
2004; the National Assembly has already adopted a version of the bill.

The plan have drawn fire from several quarters for months. Reporters 
Sans Frontieres (RSF-a GILC member) has warned: "If the LEN is approved, 
excessive Internet censorship is likely to ensue." Similar concerns have 
been expressed by Imaginons un Reseau Internet Solidaire (IRIS-a GILC 
member), which has started an anti-LEN petition drive.

For an IRIS report on LEN (with in-depth analysis of key LEN provisions 
and a proposal for modifications), click
http://www.iris.sgdg.org/info-debat/comm-point-len0304.html

For more about LEN as well as the IRIS petition drive, see
http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/len

To read RSF's comments on the plan, click
http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=9714



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[7] European Parliament approves EuroDMCA
=========================================================
The European Parliament has approved a proposal that would dramatically 
expand the powers of intellectual property holders.

The European Intellectual Property Enforcement Directive supposedly will 
simplify the enforcement of copyrights, patents, and trademarks 
throughout the continent. Among other things, the proposal includes 
provisions that essentially will give intellectual property holders 
broad subpoena powers to collect personal information. The plan also 
will increase civil liability for infringements even if done 
accidentally, unknowingly or for non-commercial purposes. The proposal's 
general outlines have drawn comparisons to the much-maligned United 
States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which contains analogous 
language.

The European Parliament approved the Directive last month by a vote of 
307 to 185. Many groups blasted the decision; Robin Gross, the executive 
director of IP Justice (a GILC member), charged: "Traditional civil 
liberties, fairness, balance, and proportionality have all be thrown to 
the wind in the over-zealous rush to pass this dangerous directive." 
Similar concerns were aired by the European Digital Rights Initiative, 
which warned that the plan's broad scope could be abused: "This 
directive should be targeted at organised crime, not teenage 
file-sharers and their parents." The proposal will now go the European 
Council of Ministers, who are expected to adopt the measure soon, 
leaving European Union countries about two years to implement 
legislation at the national level in order to conform with the Directive.

The IP Justice press release is posted at
http://www.ipjustice.org/CODE/release20040309_en.shtml

An EDRI commentary on the Directive is posted under
http://edri.org/cgi-bin/index?id=000100000139

Read "EU backs tighter laws on piracy," BBC News Online, 9 March 2004 at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3545839.stm





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[19] International cybercrime treaty enters into force
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A controversial new cybercrime treaty has come into force, albeit in 
just a few countries.

The Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime, would, among other 
things, require countries to authorize government agents to install 
spytools on the servers of Internet service providers (ISPs) and thereby 
intercept all Internet transmissions that come through their servers. 
The treaty requires signatory nations to comply with foreign 
investigators, even when they are investigating activities that are not 
crimes on domestic soil. The Convention, however, does not require 
countries to enact any specific procedural protections. Many groups have 
severely criticized the treaty for years as a serious threat to online 
privacy.

While representatives from several dozen nations have signed the 
Convention in 2001, few of those countries have actually ratified the 
pact since then. Several weeks ago, Lithuania became only the fifth 
country to ratify the Convention (joining Hungary, Croatia, Estonia and 
Albania), thereby at least fulfilling the treaty's requirement that five 
nations must ratify the treaty before it can become effective. However, 
the Convention still does not have the force of law beyond those 5 
countries. Despite a letter from United States President George W. Bush 
late last year urging the U.S. Senate to "give its advice and consent to 
ratification," the Senate has yet to take action. Moreover, there is no 
word as to whether other signatories (notably Great Britain, France and 
Germany) will ratify the Convention any time soon.

A Council of Europe press release on this subject is posted at
http://press.coe.int/cp/2004/135a(2004).htm

Read Estelle Dumout, "Council of Europe ratifies cybercrime treaty," 
ZDNet France, 22 March 2004 at
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39149470,00.htm

The text of the treaty is available via
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/WhatYouWant.asp?NT=185

To read the text of President Bush's message, click
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031117-11.html

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