UKNM: Fwd: MEPs vote to ban Web caching!

[Sajid Mohammed]

A delightful missive from the adorable Dan Harris of Cerbernet on the banning of caching by those crazy foreigners. May I be the first to say that the world has gone mad when non-techie MEPs who have a background in literature and percieve legislating for the Internet as 'novel' are deciding on policy?


Thankfully, it has yet to be implemented in law. Meantime, I'm either going to a) use Hotline from now on or b) go back to using a Unix bash shell and spearhead the Gopher revival.


SM

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To:

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From: Daniel Harris <

danielcerbernet [dot] co [dot] uk

>

Subject: MEPs vote to ban Web caching!

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Hi there All,


Re: MEPs vote to ban Web caching! - see end of email for story.


Laugh! I did! Seems like MEPs want the impossible! Am I using "!" too much!

I don't care!


Do these people have no idea how the Internet works?! Were we consulted?!

How are we meant to comply?!


OK... Seriously... It would be wonderful for creative people to earn money

for their creations. That, I believe, is one of the goals of all this.

Where content is the only thing we pay for as Internet users.


However, the real issue is how we get there. The MEPs have chosen the

aggressive route. Make everyone a criminal to start with and then everyone

has to sort out the problem of getting the copyright control and payment

systems right. Problem: the more criminals there are the less effect a law

has on the populous!


Why can't we do this sensibly? How about this? Surely it would be far, far

,far better to provide revenue to the artists! Why aren't MEPs saying that

we should build systems to take money for content? Why aren't they making

funds available? Why am I being so polite?!


Oh, well...


Cheers


Daniel

 

---------------->


This article is from http://www.silicon.com


MEPs vote to ban Web caching

PUBLISHED: 0:30am on Thursday 11 February 1999


The European Parliament (EP) has voted in favour of

imposing stringent copyright protection across the

Internet. Pundits have called the policy unworkable.

The move, which was acclaimed by artists' and musicians'

unions as a success, could make it illegal to view

unauthorised copyright material online, as Web servers need

to make temporary copies of the material in order to

transmit it efficiently.

A spokesman for the European Parliament confirmed that the

caching of copyright Web material would be outlawed under

the proposals, despite campaigns against this by EuroISPA,

which represents Internet service providers across Europe.

The proposals, which began as an attempt to harmonise EU

copyright laws, need to secure the agreement of the EU

Council of Ministers before being made law.

Lawyers are still working out what effect it will have on

Web surfers. One early reaction was that if material were

posted online with the author's consent, anyone downloading

it would have to pay the author. Even viewing it online

could become an infringement, if a surfer uses Web caching

to avoid paying for the content.

Meta Group analyst, Ashim Pal, commented: "The Internet

won't be brought to its knees, but millions of people will

start breaking the law."

Author of the proposal, MEP Roberto Barzanti, conceded that

enforcement would be a problem. "That is not the issue at

this point, but it will probably be the responsibility of

ISPs in the future," he told Silicon.com. Despite insisting

that partnership between governments and the technology

industry is vital, he said: "If member states say that it

is up to ISPs to enforce the EU directive, then they will

have to comply."


Barzanti admitted he has no direct experience with

technology. A literature lecturer from Siena University,

his political experience lies in regulating television

content. "This is a very complex and novel area for me," he

told Silicon.com.


Copyright 1998, 1999 NMTV/Silicon.com. All rights

reserved.


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Daniel Harris

danielcerbernet [dot] net

Business Development Director          http://www.cerbernet.net

Cerbernet Limited                         tel: +44 171 360 8000

21 Denmark Street  London  WC2H 8NE  UK   fax: +44 171 360 8001


Leased Lines  Server Hosting  Satellite  Webcasting  E-commerce


Webcasting: http://uk.real.com/isp/

Peering:    http://www.linx.net/membinfo/members/cerbernet.html




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