Music moguls want EU terror law to hunt pirates

By David Cronin

Date: 24/11/05

The entertainment industry is mounting an intense lobbying campaign for a proposed EU law on storing phone and internet data to cover the illegal downloading of music and films.

The UK presidency of the EU is hoping to clinch a deal on the data retention directive when justice and interior ministers meet next week (1-2 December). The data retention law was described as a tool for fighting terrorism and organised crime. But entertainment firms want its scope widened to crime in general.

The Creative Media Business Alliance (CMBA), which includes such companies as EMI, Walt Disney, Bertelsmann, Universal, TimeWarner and Sony, is arguing that limiting the law to 'serious' offences would hamper its effectiveness.

In a letter circulated in the European Parliament this week, it noted that a 2004 EU law on intellectual property, known as the enforcement directive, "recognises the need" to track illegal downloaders using data held by firms providing internet services. CMBA contends that the data stored must include details of websites visited, so that those who download illegal files can be identified.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has estimated that the number of illegal music files on the internet was around 900 million during the first six months of this year and has reported a steady fall in legal sales of music in many EU countries.

Several MEPs are arguing, though, that data retention laws should not be used against unauthorised file-swapping.

Yesterday (23 November), the industry committee voted against widening the scope of the directive. German Christian Democrat Angelika Niebler, who drafted that committee's opinion, said: "We should really be careful about what we are doing. We don't want to penalise or criminalise young people."

Liberal Alexander Alvaro, who has drafted the position of the civil liberties committee, is also arguing that illegal downloading should not be included in the directive's remit, which, he says, should be restricted to the crimes covered by the European arrest warrant. These include terrorism, drugs trafficking, rape, genocide and the hijacking of ships or planes.

Alvaro's report is to go before the plenary on 13 December.

Some MEPs are pushing for details of websites visited by computer users to be excluded altogether. Dutch Socialist Edith Mastenbroek said the usefulness of including internet traffic data had not been proven.

But UK Liberal MEP Bill Newton Dunn has recommended that the directive become a general anti-crime measure. "If we are doing this, then why not do it properly, rather than narrowing it to a specialist field," he asked.

Data retention has become a priority for the UK presidency since the 7 July bombings in London. A British government spokesman said that many EU governments believed the directive should apply to crime in general, rather than solely to offences deemed as serious. "Clearly, this has to be done on a proportionate basis," the spokesman added. "But the principal point is that it should be used as a tool to fight crime."

Gus Hosein from civil liberties group Privacy International said: "Data retention has never been about terrorism, it has always been about having information accessible for any purpose under the sun. So it is no surprise to see Hollywood saying 'we would like to have this data too'."

Article reports on a major lobbying campaign by the entertainment industry for the proposed Directive on data retention to be extended to cover the illegal downloading of music and films. The proposed scheme was designed as an instrument in the fight against terrorism and other serious crimes including drugs trafficking, rape, genocide and the hijacking of ships or planes. Article features critical comments by members of the European Parliament Committees responsible for the examination of the proposal.

European Commission: PreLex: COM(2005) 438 final, Proposal for a Directive ... on the retention of data processed in connection with the provision of public electronic communication services ... http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/detail_dossier.cfm?CL=en&ReqId=0&DocType=COM&DocYear=2005&DocNum=0438

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