International Law

Mashable reports on a EU political party that supports file sharing:

In a highly unusual move for any political group today, the Greens EFA party of the European Parliament have publicly expressed their support for file sharing on the Net.

The party has taken the highly progressive step of speaking out on the part of consumers who have been treated as criminals by various media industries. To aid in educating people about the situation, they?ve launched the site IWouldntSteal.net that highlights the party?s concerns and offers visitors the option to download a film associated with the campaign.

The video and website carry the same basic idea: that the music and movie industries have made downloading a file the equivalent of stealing a handbag or television set.

The Greens of course don?t feel that is a just assessment. The party sees that laws which have been passed to supposedly ?support the artists? do nothing more than turn everyday citizens into criminals, and protects the profits of the media conglomerates. IWouldntSteal.net mentions the party?s discontent over the inclusion of ?propaganda? on every DVD consumers encounter.

While it is surely noble for the Greens EFA to take up the cause of consumer rights, the target audience for their campaign seems a slightly odd choice. Won?t they essentially be ?preaching to the choir,? as it were, failing to enlighten the broader public?

Those who know how to use a torrent client obviously believe in the concept of sharing already, and certainly they will enjoy having some politicians on their side, but how they plan to get the message out to the wider citizenry is unclear. Educating the masses is what is needed, and for now this seems more a play by the party to win support than an attempt to enact real change.

Read more here.  And here is the video: