http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pirate-App/125065507548174?ref=sgm

ON THE CONTRARY, reform of the regulatory framework on telecommunications (“Telecoms Package”), says quite the opposite and FORBIDS that laws by Member States force a 3-strikes regime outside strict criteria and procedural safeguards.

The reform must be implemented by Member States within June 2011. See art. 1.3a (Framework Directive 2002/21/EC as amended by 2009/140/EC http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:337:0037:0069:EN:PDF):

3a.
Measures taken by Member States regarding end-users access’ to, or use of, services and applications through electronic communications networks shall respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, as guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and general principles of Community law.

Any of these measures regarding end-users’ access to, or use of, services and applications through electronic communications networks liable to restrict those fundamental rights or freedoms may only be imposed if they are appropriate, proportionate and necessary within a democratic society, and their implementation shall be subject to adequate procedural safeguards in conformity with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and with general principles of Community law, including effective judicial protection and due process. Accordingly, these measures may only be taken with due respect for the principle of the presumption of innocence and the right to privacy. A prior, fair and impartial procedure shall be guaranteed, including the right to be heard of the person or persons concerned, subject to the need for appropriate conditions and procedural arrangements in duly substantiated cases of urgency in conformity with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The right to effective and timely judicial review shall be guaranteed.’;

Póg me thoin MAFIAA!!

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although not the same, i recently purchased a book and halfway in it skipped about 50 pages. and then when it got back on track it did so for one page and then on the next restarted the book from the beginning. needless to say i was pissed.

i fired off an email to the store where i got the book and they said they would not replace it. that if i liked i could purchase another copy and check it beforehand in store. but the thing is i bought a pack. it was like 4 books in one box, and they didnt have the one book i needed by itself. so id have to spend another 50 bucks for the box set.

i said screw them they just lost a customer. so i wrote to the publisher and mentioned my dilemma. i offered to send them the book i had so they could see the defect and asked if theyd replace it at that point. i got a response within an hour saying they were gonna mail me the complete book at no cost. and they were sorry about the problem. and hoped i continued reading their books.

so i mean sometimes things work out. but the music industry isnt the same as the publishing one. and the truth is sales have not declined, if anything theyve just leveled off. they dont see that itunes and amazon are cannibalizing cd sales because people dont buy whole cds. people just want the one or two good songs off an album and thats it. but they wont dare say anything to apple or whoever. its easier to blame it on pirating.

the movie industry did the same thing. and this in spite of the fact that i believe for the last three years profits have been record breaking to all years before that. and have increased consecutively each year. and the movie industry although still combating pirating, has chilled out. they know theyre making cash.

only the music industry, and lets be honest, the labels, not the artist, are pissed. artists get screwed anyway. they make money off concert tickets and merchandise. the record labels get all the cash from album sales. and theyre pissed that they arent making more and more. thus they have to blame someone. and why blame themselves and theyre outdated practices when they can blame the internet. and the consumers and/or pirates.

Outside of the entertainment value a digital file has no value. It is not collectible nor resalable. In addition a digital file is may have a limited life. Unless a back up is made if the disk goes the file is gone and the copyright holder is under no obligation to replace it. Although it would be nice if they were forced to replace it a reasonable amount of times with in a reasonable period. No need to make game or movie back-ups if a scratched disk was happily replaced.
…”

I too have wondered why copyright holders have no obligation to replace what we buy when we can’t play it again.

For example, I simply adore Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, but back in the 1970′s and 80′s I must have bought it at least 4 times because one of the two cassettes stopped playback properly with sticking or jumping.

If want a refund or complain there’s no return address or contact info on the product the copyright holder sells to us. So even if we wanted to ask their permission to make a backup copy, they don’t tell us where we can contact them.

It’s all been a rip-off of the consumer for decades. It’s time our politicians wised-up and started protecting their electorate from these frelling vultures, GGGRRRRRRR.