"the value added in the United States by industries dependent on Fair Use is $2.2 trillion dollars annually, or one sixth of the U.S. economy" –CCIA Study
Wednesday 8:00am (4th November 2009)
UK Parliamentary Enquiry into Copyright Infringement Online: 'Music Industry Failed To Adapt'..) has come out strongly against internet termination, blaming the music and film industry (not artists) for failing to adapt to the online environment. They say "We conclude that much of the problem with illegal sharing of copyrighted material has been caused by the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available" and they also say that e-Government plans for democratic participation in society conflict with internet termination. The full extract is inside...
56. Turning now to the question of "bad" file sharing traffic. We are only too well aware that since we received written responses in May, and heard oral evidence in July, much more has happened. The final version of the Digital Britain Report has been published; the
Department for Business Innovation and Skills has published a consultation paper on dealing with illegal file sharing based on the Report's approach; and latterly the Secretary of State has announced a change in the preferred policy to include disconnecting end users - and then slightly extended the consultation period.
57. We are therefore reluctant to make a substantial number of further recommendations based on the evidence we received in the Spring and Summer, since it is self-evidently now incomplete. However, we have reached some conclusions.
58. We conclude that much of the problem with illegal sharing of copyrighted material has been caused by the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available.
59. We do not believe that disconnecting end users is in the slightest bit consistent with policies that attempt to promote eGovernment, and we recommend that this approach to dealing with illegal file-sharing should not be further considered.
60. We think that it is inappropriate to make policy choices in the UK when policy options are still to be agreed by the EU Commission and EU Parliament in their negotiations over the "Telecoms Package". We recommend that the Government terminate their current policy-making process, and restart it with a new consultation once the EU has made its decisions.
