[ARS]"I Wouldn't Steal": European Greens advocate file-swapping - Overclock.net

MasterKromm · 01-21-08

By Nate Anderson | Published: January 21, 2008 - 11:56AM CT

Quote:

A European political coalition has come out in opposition to the "multinationals" who want to put a stop to file-sharing, and they instead make the claim that file-swapping is "fair."

The Greens/European Free Alliance has a website and video designed to counter media industry claims that piracy is theft. The "I Wouldn't Steal" campaign argues that downloading movies or music without paying is "fundamentally different from stealing" (by which the group means physical theft of things like purses and cars).

Instead, the Greens believe that sharing is fair and that "consumers are willing to pay if offered good quality at a fair price." Media companies (especially the movie studios) could certainly do a better job of making their content available, but the Greens go so far as to argue that they have "failed to offer viable legal alternatives" to piracy. Consumers are therefore apparently entitled to content on their own terms; if it isn't provided in those forms, they have the right to take it.

To reform the system, the Greens want to make royalty payments regressive, so that "artists get paid less the zillionth time their song is played than the first time. Frequently played artists will still make more money, but no longer out of proportion." To collect more revenue for artists, the Greens suggest taxing advertising on TV, radio, and billboards, since advertising is a "form of mental pollution" and "corporations should pay for pollution."

Torrentfreak, which has covered the campaign, praises the fact that the Greens "stand up for people's right to share culture," while The Pirate Bay is running a "I Wouldn't Steal" logo on its front page. The music and movie industries will no doubt be less convinced by the campaign.

Still, the Greens' decision to embrace "sharing" illustrates a shift that's underway in some sectors of the European political establishment. In Sweden, seven MPs recently sent a letter to Expressen in which they called for the decriminalization of file-swapping.

The Greens' campaign could be a bigger deal, as Green parties have pulled in around 10 percent of the vote in recent elections in countries like Germany, Austria, and Belgium. In countries that use proportional representation, this translates into parliamentary seats at both the national and European level. The Green/EFA alliance is one of the seven major coalitions in the European Parliament, where it holds 42 of the 785 seats.

Those are still small numbers, but the fact that politicians are even making such statements openly suggests that European thinking about artists and copyright could be moving in a different direction from that in the US, where such publicly-expressed sentiments are basically nonexistent.

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http://www.viddler.com/explore/kopimi/videos/5/

bad_haze · 01-21-08

that's a pretty cool video

R3ap3R · 01-21-08

Whoops. I just posted the same thing....

Licht · 01-21-08

Interesting idealism.

Pir · 01-21-08

How i love beeing European

mootin · 01-21-08

finally people that actually live in the real world!

i dont agree with piracy but the article makes some great points about how it should be tackled.

shifty22123 · 01-21-08

God save the Queen! I mean...give her her handbag

d3daiM · 01-21-08

I've seen it, agree, and think it's a cool video.

liermam · 01-21-08

I don't really like the way the article phrased some of the ideology of the organization. "if it isn't provided in those forms, they have the right to take it." Please. No one in that group blieves they have the right to take anything.

Overall, I have to admire what the I wouldn't steal campaign is doing. They are really trying to redefine the idea's our society accepts of cultural media (movies, music, games) and change it from just another product to something more special. Its hard to explain, but I'm catching on.

uberjon · 01-22-08

actually.. my grandmother (dont laugh to hard..) and i had a convo a while back.. how back when television was free. commercials was on there to pay for it.. and that was "fair" but now that you have to pay each month to watch tv... you shouldnt have to see a single commercial! and how its unfair..

i agree!

its practically harassment with commercials imo!

id love to see this get a foothold.. and maybe even succeed in my lifetime!

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[ARS]"I Wouldn't Steal": European Greens advocate file-swapping

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