Well, this is interesting. A pan-European consumer rights group going by the name of BEUC is staging an event in the European Parliament today to protest at the way the music industry is going about protecting its copyrights in the digital age. Supported by MEP Zuzana Roithova, the group will launch a 'Declaration of Consumers' Digital Rights' which they want incorporated into EC law. The declaration takes the form of a number of 'rights' which they claim every consumer in Europe should have. These include:
- Right to choice, knowledge and cultural diversity.
- Right to the principle of "technical neutrality" - defend and maintain consumer rights in the digital environment.
- Right to benefit from technological innovations without abusive restrictions.
- Right to interoperability of content and devices.
- Right to the protection of privacy.
- Right not to be criminalised.
The group will also call on the music industry to end its legal action against individuals who share copyright music via P2P networks.
BEUC Director Jim Murray told CMU: "The [music] industry insists on "informing", or rather "misinforming" consumers on what they cannot do in the digital world. We believe it is high time to guarantee consumers certain basic rights in the digital world and to tell them what they can do with their digital hardware and content".
The lobbying group's new campaign comes as courts around the world seem to be moving more in line with the thinking of the content owners regarding the sharing of copyrighted media online, despite ongoing concerns over consumer rights and privacy. It will be interesting to how industry execs respond to BEUC's campaign given that on one hand they seem to be winning the legal argument on this one already, though, arguably, that is having little effect on actual P2P usage around the world.