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[Sheflug] UK law on copyright is being tightened against the public's interests
Hi
This looks like something that people may want to know about so here
it is....
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: [OxLUG] URGENT - UK law on copyright is being tightened
against the public's interests
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 00:02:52 +0100
From: Paul Mobbs <mobbsey [at] gn.apc.org>
To: oxlug [at] lists.oxlug.org
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Hi,
URGENT!
* please forward * * please forward * * please forward *
REPSONSES REQUIRED TO GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION ON
AMENDING THE COPYRIGHT LAWS TO PREPARE FOR THE
"INFORMATION AGE"
The Patent Office, on behalf of the government, have brought forward
proposals to change the UK law on copyright. This has serious
impacts on the way the public and journalists are allowed to use
copyright information.
There is a detailed briefing on this issue at:
http://www.fraw.org.uk/opendir/users_report.html
The consultation paper, published jointly by the UK Department of
Trade and Industry and the UK Patent Office, is located online at:
http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/consultations/eccopyright/index.htm
Responses are required by Thursday, October 31st
We need as many people as possible to complain about these proposals
in order to raise the political profile - otherwise we risk these
proposals being quickly waived through Parliament just before
Christmas - along with the large amounts of other legislation that
get pushed through the House at this time.
Comments may be sent by:
* snail-mail to Teresa Arnesen, Copyright Directorate, The Patent
Office, Harmsworth House, 13-15 Bouverie Street, London EC4Y 8DP
* e-mail to copyright [at] patent.gov.uk
* fax to 020 7596 6526/6527
...so you have lots of options for sending a response.
All help on this matter is greatly appreciated.
In brief....
The law on copyright in the UK is shortly to be revised, and these
revisions could introduce wide-ranging changes to the way we have
traditionally accessed and used information and media/multimedia
recordings.
The main points of the proposed scheme of amendment, proposed by the
Patent Office, are:
* Amendments to the rules on 'fair dealing' could damage the personal
use of material, and potentially restrict investigative reports from
accessing and using unpublished reports as part of their work, and
also prevents local organisations for raising money at events where
they play recorded music.
* The regulation of 'digital rights management' poses a serious risk
to privacy and personal information due to the poor interaction of
controls over the automated collection of sensitive personal data.
* The proposals to make copyright infringement a criminal offence
require a means for people to take action against unfounded threats
of action in order to prevent the threat of legal action being used
as a method of intimidation.
* The proposals to allow action for infringement against
intermediaries, like Internet Service Providers, provide a means for
rights holders to threaten or take action against a 'soft target' to
remove material online rather than against the person allegedly
committing the infringement.
The online briefing looks at the implications of these changes. It
also explains the process for objection to these changes -- which
must be made by October 31st 2002.
Thanks for your help
Paul Mobbs
<mobbsey [at] gn.apc.org>
- - --
- - -------------------
"We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government, nor are we
for this party nor against the other but we are for justice and
mercy and truth and peace and true freedom, that these may be
exalted in our nation, and that goodness, righteousness, meekness,
temperance, peace and unity with God, and with one another, that
these things may abound." (Edward Burroughs, 1659 - from 'Quaker
Faith and Practice')
Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations,
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
tel./fax (+44/0)1295 261864
email - mobbsey [at] gn.apc.org
website - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mobbsey.html
public key - http://www.fraw.org.uk/keylist.html
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