No, it isn't an April's Fools joke
*dramatic chord*
Today marks the beginning of the new hunting grounds within Swedish jurisdiction, and the predators are scenting prey.
I am talking, of course, about the utterly ridiculous and retarded IPRED law that has sprung into legal action.
Though tempting to call them braindead I am more convinced that our politicians who have a passion for these kind of laws are simply ignorant. They don't understand what Internet is or how it works. They think it is something you can regulate and take away from people as punishment. Besides, isn't Internet just full of child pornography anyway? In their worlds the Internet is a place you can do well without.
Talk about being completely out of sync with the modern time!
I am ashamed to admit that Sweden has a minister of justice who, prior to the voting about this very law, went on with that copyright infringement and theft are one and the same. Does anyone but me wonder if law school is required for the politicians in charge of the justice system?
And today the smug film, game and movie industries smugly make the statement that they are going to squeeze these thieves, who cause such extended damages to...yes that's right...to the CREATORS (artists, authors, directors).
I hate the Eurovision Song Contest crap. But I might download the winning song to hear what kind of crap won this year. According to the sense and reason of our politicians and the record industry it would cause them great damage if somebody uploads the song to me.
Clue me in, anyone, what are these great damages? Do they honestly believe I would run out and buy the CD single? Or are they inane enough to believe that I would turn into a super-consumer of this good-for-fertilizer entertainment?
God knows what they are thinking. Logic and reason went out through the window eons ago and what rules now are the fingers of the huge "entertainment industry" (what a joke for a name, by the way), old market models, complaints concerning the lack of hits and top list sellers - and, of course, the threat of this obscure terrorism.
Our rights to privacy and the damn basic legal rights are being pecked away bit by bit, all because of a goddamn entertainment industry whose claims are not even scientifically verified!
I will give you just a little taste as to how it is going to work here in Sweden, at least in theory:
Some private police, IFPISS, MPA or maybe the Swedish Antipiratbyrån, find your IP address in the swarm of a torrent containing some copyrighted movie, mp3 or game.
-AHA! A thief! Let's make a screendump and send a demand to the ISP to divulge who is behind it!
Since the Swedish law now requires the ISPs to cough up all information they possess regarding the Internet subscriber they found that the party responsible is mr Karl Karlsson, 38 years old.
-OK mr Karlsson, you think you can spread OUR WORKS and cause US damage!? Let's send you a demand for 100,000 SEK in damages with the alternative to take the case to a civil court, then!!
Here, let me give you a quick introduction to how the Swedish civil law suits work vs. the Swedish criminal case:
If you are accused of a crime, for amusement's sake say theft, it is up to the prosecutor to put forth evidence that PROVES you to be guilty as charged.
In the civil suit the roles are reversed, it is up to YOU to prove that you are NOT responsible for the damages your opponent claims. Now ponder this, how in the whole world are you going to DISPROVE their claims? Even if your weak WEP wireless was hacked, how can you prove that it wasn't you who commited this dreadful act of (C) infringement? It's impossible!
And the screendumps made by the entertainment industry are viewed as proper evidence as shown in previous Swedish court cases, which in itself has undermined the basic legal rights in Sweden (the fact that evidence gathered by a party involved in the case is considered as perfectly objective and true) - meaning, if they got your IP on their screendumps you are more or less screwed.
And to make it even more insane: in the case of a civil suit your bank accounts might be frozen and the opponent might claim ownership of your house, boat, whatever valuables you might have.
All right, let's continue:
Mr. Karlsson figures that his 16 years old son has downloaded/uploaded (by BitTorrent technique) the latest Pirates of the Caribbean XIV: Search for Jack Sparrow's retarded parrot. All right, but mr. Karlsson hasn't got 100,000 SEK and even if he withdrew his son's allowance money for the rest of his life, it still wouldn't add up.
Now he has the alternative to plead and beg the entertainment industry to reconsider, or he could suggest a installment plan that they might agree on. OR he could go to civil court, confront the top-notch lawyers, and try to prove them wrong by perhaps claiming the wireless was insecure and that the criminal is somebody unknown.
However, the entertainment industry cares not about this. Mr Karlsson's guilty, whether he is guilty or not! And if he LOSES the civil suit -which is likely since he can't really disprove that it was his IP address being in that torrent swarm- he will have to pay the money + interest + the cost for both his own and the entertainment industries' heft lawyers, as well as ... (oohh you won't believe me here) ... the cost of publishing a notice about the entertainment industry's victory in the newspapers in order to "inform" the public (page 238, section 13.2.2 in the IPRED proposition).
Yes, this scenario is not utterly unlikely, I am sorry to say. I also wonder what kind of people will have the money to hire lawyers to defend them - if they decide to question the claims of the entertainment industry?
Our dear minister of justice blatantly said that the home insurances will cover it. QUITE a bold statement, considering how all insurance companies work to dodge their responsibilities. Don't be surprised if there is a clause in the home insurance agreement saying that if you are suspected of illicit activities, they will pay for nothing.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, that politicians in France are pushing as hard as they can to cut file-sharing teenagers off of from the Internet - if they have received three warnings and not bettered themselves. They will still have to pay for the Internet subscriptions, naturally. I guess that suggestion was included to cause the whole experience to hurt even more and perhaps most importantly to decrease the objections from the ISP since they would lose income. Lovely! Apparently Internet is just a toy you can confiscate if the child is naughty, that's the view of our dear politicians at any rate.
People also go on about how all this rage as a reaction to the strengthening of the (C) laws is silly, seeing how people are treated in Eritrea for instance. How RIGHT you are, but don't forget there are tons of people already fighting against this injustice. Should we forget all injustice and senselessness at home simply because there is worse somewhere else? I think not!
What also baffles me is how ridiculously hard the penalties for (C) infringement have become. Especially if you compare to the penalties for, for example, child molestation or physical assault. The European Union and in particular the US are going on about how they are being forced to resort to rougher measures because these crimes won't decrease. But they are willing to let rape, assaults, car burglaries etcetera go on as before without increasing the penalties or giving private agencies supremacy rights to deal with these issues. What kind of sense does that make? What kind of message does that send out?
I got a good idea, dear popular elected: re-introduce the medieval pillory. Oh, and public whipping too! That would work wonders on all those little shithead teenage pirates who don't have any money to pay the damages with anyway! Bring forth the old and well-tried techniques!
Even better: let the authors and artists and other creators deliver the flogging in person, with a tool of choice, so they can properly revenge themselves upon these beastly abominations of the human race!
I know, that was silly, but when you put it together with the rest of the insanities that are in fact REAL - it becomes less so. I believe in going the whole hog. Let people into how crazy all of this really is.
Oh no.2: our EU politicians also want to extend the (C) time from the time of the artist's/author's/inventor's death from 50 years to 95 years too to "harmonise" with the US! I guess the corpses or the ashes still need that money somehow, because after all : isn't all this so that the poor bastards can make a living?