Disconnecting File-Sharers Violates Human Rights, Says UN
Disconnecting File-Sharers Violates Human Rights, Says UN
Posted 06/03/2011 at 11:29am
| by Brad Chacos
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Creative associations and ISPs have been trying to cast copyright-infringing file-sharers as digital boogeymen for years now. They've also been lobbying for a version of the Internet based around baseball: three copyright violation strikes and you're out of the Internet, cut off not just from P2P but also Twitter, email and MaximumPC.com. "Hold your horses," says a special report by the UN’s Human Rights Council. Apparently, three-strikes-style laws aren't just a ridiculous overreaction, they're a violation of human rights.
"The Special Rapporteur considers cutting off users from Internet access, regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating intellectual property rights law, to be disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," Torrent Freak cites.
Bam! Take that, draconian file-sharing laws. Frank La Rue, the author of the report, specifically calls out existing French and English legislation. He suggests that governments need to relax, take a chill pill and remember that they're supposed to look out for the rights of their citizens as well as economic interests.
The UN’s Human Rights Council is scheduled to officially adopt "The Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression" today. Try saying that three times fast!
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bling581
June 06, 2011 at 9:45am
Some potential flaws with this depending on how they would monitor users. Do they give you a strike just for downloading something from a website on their list? What if that site also has legit downloads and what you're downloading is perfectly legal? If you get an unlawful strike would you have a chance to try and get it removed?
Ghok
June 04, 2011 at 2:11pm
All it is suggesting is that the laws certain industries have bought are not very good for the people.
No kidding, removing an essential service like internet as punishment for engaging in minor crime is bad for the people? This report just shows that they have not drank the copyright Kool Aid these industries have been pushing. Most people who stop and think about it know this.
ISPs against file sharing? Maybe some. Hell, when first rolling out broadband sme were pretty blatant as saying one of the perks was the ability to download music faster. There weren't any real legal choices back then.
Scatter
June 05, 2011 at 9:28am
Some would argue that pirating isn't a minor crime. I look at this law as the same as if you drive drunk 3x you loose your license.
Ghok
June 05, 2011 at 8:16pm
Drunk driving causes car accidents and deaths. That's kind of the difference that takes it out of the minor crime category.
jedisamurai
June 04, 2011 at 11:58am
Hmmm...must be because 3 is a prime number. Three DUIs and you lose your car? Three tardies and you lose your job? Three murders and you get the electric chair? A simple but effective means of controlling undesirable behavior....
Human Rights rulings do matter, just not as much as a military force marching up the steps of your front door, and generally take time to have the desired effect.
If you wonder what the U.N. would be like with teeth play the game "Fate of the World".
Eoraptor
June 03, 2011 at 3:31pm
Well, it's a nice thought and all, but money talks and everything else walks. Unless someone/group with the cash to back it up starts coming out and really pushing the "you're violating a basic human right" thing, this will be just as quietly forgotten as things like the Kyoto protocals, the resolutions and treaties against landmines and incindiaries, the complete and utter failure of the UN to get real climate change passed by the major polluting powers, etc.
warptek2010
June 03, 2011 at 5:09pm
Climate change? Really? You know the only real climate change happening is how govt's around the world (especially the US) are building up more and more complete disregard for what people need and want for themselves and what govts want people to need and want. Guess what? Liberty and freedom ain't too high on the list of what govt's want for their people.
I mean you wannna get political and all.....
Ghok
June 04, 2011 at 1:51pm
Uh... what? The only climate change that's happening is... governments not giving people liberty and freedom? I have no idea what you're trying to say. I might even agree with you.
Holly Golightly
June 03, 2011 at 12:15pm
I am with the UN on this topic. some of these anti-piracy laws are faaaar too extreme. Everybody knows a country is suppose to be for its people... Not the money.
Gezzer
June 03, 2011 at 12:03pm
My question would be does this "ruling" have any teeth behind it? It's fine to go on the record, but if member countries simply ignore anything the UN has to say on the matter it's pretty much a paper dragon I would think.
It's a strange coincidence that the UN is talking about how cutting off internet access is a violation of a person's human rights, and how the events in Syria are proving it in a much more broader sense. I find it amazing how the free exchange of information has sparked the citizens of some countries to rise up and throw off the yoke of their oppressors.
Maybe Anon is right, the free flow of information is a good thing, a very good thing.
Brad Chacos
June 03, 2011 at 12:15pm
As a report, and not a ruling, countries don't have to comply with the suggestions. But I would imagine that trying to pass laws and keep legislation on the books that the UN Human Rights Council calls a violation of human rights would be politically difficult, at least in democratic countries.
Good point about Syria. In fact, a portion of the report talks specifically about how governments need to keep the Internet on during times of political crisis. As you say, the free flow of info is always a good thing.
Gezzer
June 03, 2011 at 12:56pm
I afraid I have less faith in goverments, be they democratic or otherwise. The current "witch hunt" that the RIAA, MPAA, and other industry organizations are currently leading seems to be gaining traction in the courts. This report may be a catalyst that will help curtail the growing trend of goverments putting the rights of special industry groups over that of their citizens. But I'm just not sure if it will be enough to get goverments to repeal any laws or trends they currently seem bound to.
I'm not avvocating the theft of any one's property. I just think that we're currently watching the slow death of an out moded business model. The problem is that at one time we needed producers/distributors because they were the only way to gain access. They took advantage of this fact and made millions if not billions in the process with very little value added.
Now the independents are showing us the way. Ten or twenty years ago a game like Minecraft couldn't exsist. Now it's a juggernaut. With the advant of digital prosumer products anyone with some talent can put out a product to rival any of the AAA titles. Then post it to the web for a reasonable cost, even free if subsidized threw advertizing.
It's only a matter of time. Too bad the death throes will be a b@tch to ride out.
Neufeldt2002
June 03, 2011 at 11:39am
I only hope that this report gains traction. I am not advocating file sharing or anything illegal, but the three strikes your out laws are based off of allegations, not facts.
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