Swedish government on file sharing

Today the swedish minister of justice and minister of culture writes about the governments ideas regarding file sharing, copyright and entertainment on the web. The main idea is that artists should have the right to get IP-addresses via courts, from the internet provider, if the artists find someone using their material illegally. This has lots of practical problems attached to it: How do you know who uses an IP-address in a company or a collective?

But there are some very good points made. Above all: The industry concerned must take its responsibility to develop. If the copyright is used to protect aged business models, it will be impossible to defend the copyright. Very well expressed!

Also, the “Renforsutredningen” which is an inquiry regarding file sharing, recommended that illegal file sharing should render the user’s internet connection to be blocked. I beleive that it is a dangerous and primitive way to go, which the minister of justice and minister of culture also identifies. This will not happen, luckily. Internet is becoming a central arena for citizens to be active in society. A block could be devastating for many, even if they act in illegal matters. I know some european countries have the option of blocking in the laws. That is something that society should be able to handle in more constructive ways.

 Here is a link to the text, but only in swedish: http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/artikel_972903.svd

Solutions to the piracy problem?

In my country, Sweden, a report was just released, called (in translation) “The pirate problem can be solved”. It compares the swedish rules – which are a bit unmodern in the writers view – to seven european countries, which have implemented newer rules to stop piracy on the web.

The main tools are to let the artists/creators get access to the internet providers logs, to find who has illegaly copied their content and distributed it. This way they can prosecute the people who share their music, programs or other digital material. Also, the Internet providers can close down the pirate’s connection if it is used for piracy. The providers get a larger responsibility here, to make sure no illegal business is transfered. According to this report, the “Internet piracy” in Finland has decreased significantly since their new rules were implemented in 2006.

Hmm… What do I think of this? A car owner can get his car confiscated if he uses it in illegal matters. A gun owner can get his gun confiscated if he uses it in illegal matters. So I suppose that a closing of the web connection is logical.

Where do this lead us? One very good and insightful mening in this report is that “If we in Sweden thinks it is important to have a living creative sector in the future, it is crucial that the creators get paid for their work”. This is of course very true. And as Richard Florida’s claims in his book The rise of the creative class, a creative sector is the tool for welfare in a society, innovation and economic growth. And the audience can not expect good music from people who lives on air and passion. At least not for more than a few songs.

But is the consequense of these laws that the creators have to become hunters, and track down their audience for prosecution? That would be a very sad development, and would render quite sad relations between artists and fans.

How does these laws work? If anyone in these countries read this blog, can you please tell me. The countries are Finland, Denmark, Norway, UK, Holland, Belgium and France.