Techdirt. Stories filed under "watchlist" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "watchlist"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:28:56 PDT Switzerland Questions Crazy Hollywood Claims About File Sharing... Ends Up On Congressional Watchlist Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120921/15010920465/switzerland-questions-crazy-hollywood-claims-about-file-sharing-ends-up-congressional-watchlist.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120921/15010920465/switzerland-questions-crazy-hollywood-claims-about-file-sharing-ends-up-congressional-watchlist.shtml was not a big deal, showing that consumers were still spending just as much on entertainment, and that much of it was going directly to artists, rather than to middlemen. In other words, it was a market shift, not a big law enforcement problem. At the time, we wondered if Switzerland had just bought itself a place on the USTR's "Special 301 list" that the administration uses each year to shame countries that Hollywood doesn't like.

That list doesn't come out for a bit, but there's another, similar list, put out by the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus (yeah) that has added Switzerland to its "bad countries" list along with China, Russia and Ukraine. Italy also joined Switzerland as a "first-timer" on the list -- despite rulings that required ISPs to block access to various file sharing sites. The issue in Italy? I'd guess that a story we had earlier this year has something to do with it. After some political fighting, the government there basically decided to just stop regulating copyright issues online. There's also an upcoming fight about new copyright proposals coming in Italy, and this seems like a preemptive strike for some of Hollywood's favorite Congressional Reps and Senators to pressure Italy into approving bad laws that Hollywood likes.

Meanwhile, both Spain and Canada -- who passed legislation very much at the behest of American interests -- were removed from the evil part of the list and switched to "in transition." The message is not particularly subtle: do not, at any cost, question Hollywood's planned copyright laws, or the US government will shame you as a haven for pirates, no matter how bogus that claim really is. Hopefully governments in Switzerland and Italy resist such obvious lobbying on behalf of special interests and pay attention to reality in those markets.

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]]> funny-how-that-works http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120921/15010920465 Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:30:00 PDT New IP Watchlist Ranks Countries On How Well Their Copyright Laws Serve The Public Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120424/23284518640/new-ip-watchlist-ranks-countries-how-well-their-copyright-laws-serve-public.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120424/23284518640/new-ip-watchlist-ranks-countries-how-well-their-copyright-laws-serve-public.shtml
Consumers International has decided that there's no reason that the USTR gets to have all the fun, so it's been releasing its own IP Watchlist ranking countries based on how pro- or anti-consumer local IP laws. In other words, Consumer International judges IP laws around the globe based on IP's actual purpose: to benefit the public. The actual report (pdf and embedded below) is a good read.

The US actually does fairly well. We're helped along by the fact that we actually have things like "fair use" in the law. The UK, however, comes in near the bottom. The report also highlights the ridiculousness of pushing stronger enforcement in some of the poorest countries in the world:
Malawi is a politically-troubled, least-developed country where more than half of the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. One would have thought that IP enforcement should take a back seat in such a country, in favour of measures designed to ensure the satisfaction of the population’s basic needs of food, water, clothing, shelter, and medical care.

Yet Malawi was one of four poor countries in which Interpol chose to conduct an anti-counterfeiting campaign in 2009, and in which the local police often join IP-holder organisations in conducting copyright raids against local traders. Is this noholds-barred, developed-country model of IP protection and enforcement truly the most appropriate model for countries like Malawi?
It's worth noting, by the way, that the top three countries on Consumer International's list -- Israel, Indonesia and India -- were also on the USTR's Special 301 "Priority Watch List" as having the worst IP regimes last year. But, as Consumer International shows, they actually have the best IP regimes when it comes to serving the needs of the public. That seems to show just how ridiculous the USTR's Special 301 list really is.

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