[Fsfe-uk] URGENT - UK law on copyright is being tightened against the public's interests

[Paul Mobbs]

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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 address@hidden

* 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using unpublished reports as part of their work, and also prevents local 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
<address@hidden>


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"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 - address@hidden
website - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mobbsey.html
public key - http://www.fraw.org.uk/keylist.html

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