Today, the leading European centres for intellectual property research have released a joint letter to EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, enclosing an impact assessment detailing the far-reaching and negative effects of the proposal to extend the term of copyright in sound recordings. With the confusion and disillusionment of Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty [...]

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Will consumer pressure for a safer net mean the end of open platforms and rapid innovation? And should the geeks who “get” the net care if the rest of the world prefer TiVos and iPhones?
On Wednesday of this week we co-hosted an event at the British Computer Society to discuss the problems raised by Jonathan [...]

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This morning, the European Parliament has voted to condemn member state plans to disconnect suspected illicit filesharers from the internet. In a fairly narrow vote, MEPs adopted an amendment to the so-called Bono Report on the Cultural Industries, which
“Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise that the Internet is a vast platform [...]

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Last weekend, international divisions over how to deal with those who illicitly share copyrighted material online began to appear. It was announced on Saturday that Japanese internet service providers (ISPs) have agreed to cut off the internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files, in plans that mirror France’s Olivennes Bill. Meanwhile Sweden’s Minister of [...]

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Thanks to everyone who wrote to their MPs over the last few weeks to ask them to object to Pete Wishart’s Private Members Bill to extend copyright term.
I’m pleased to report that an honourable member did indeed object to the Bill when it came round. He is as yet unidentified (although Hansard will hopefully [...]

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I’m pleased to announce today the launch of a Europe-wide campaign against the extension of copyright term. Thanks to ORG volunteers, and some very nice people I met at FOSDEM, the new campaign site - soundcopyright.eu - is available in English, French and German.
Please visit the site, and sign the petition.
The recording industry has been [...]

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European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy may have surprised us with his rogue call for copyright term extension from Brussels last week, but there are battles to be fought closer to home, too.
On 7 March, a Private Member’s Bill proposed by Pete Wishart MP will have its second reading in the House of Commons. It is vital [...]

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When the government mailed half the nation’s bank details to the darknet at the end of last year, it looked like 2008 was going to be the year privacy issues hit the headlines. But, when it comes to digital rights stories, privacy has been seeing stiff competition from that old foe of the digital society: [...]

Read the rest of "Copyright commotions 101: Free event at LSE next month"

The phone lines have been buzzing at ORG headquarters this morning, as the national media have finally wised up to the Government’s plans to compel ISPs to disconnect customers who routinely break their terms of service by sharing copyrighted content online. The Times frontpage kicked it all off, having seen leaked copies of next week’s [...]

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ORG has made two press appearances so far this week. Yesterday, Suw Charman combined her two loves - the Welsh language and protecting your bits - by speaking to BBC Wales about the civil liberties implications of the proposed Welsh smartcard scheme. We’re really proud of Suw for breaking the language barrier to question the [...]

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