EFF Sends Out Messages To Obama Administration’s IP Czar: Internet Users Must Be Protected

August 21, 2012 by
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Entertainment Industry, File-Sharing Programs, Networks & Services, Legal P2P News & Issues 

In their restless efforts to keep internet users safe from harm, the Electronic Frontier Foundation decided to send comments to Victoria Espinel – the Obama Administration’s IP Czar.

First of all, one should know that the IP Czar is formally known as the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, a position which has been created by the Pro-IP Act of 2008.

These comments were sent by the EFF with the purpose to convince Victoria Espinel to help with how America’s tax dollars are invested on enforcing copyright, patented laws, and trademark in the following two years.

The organization also highlighted some issues, amongst which we name that the U.S. government does not only allow private companies to develop private “voluntary” agreements to curb piracy, but it encourages them to do so. A good example is the Copyright Alerts agreement for which the Obama Administration was praised by the public. The agreement consists in a “partnership” between internet providers and the entertainment companies, but lacks public input. What it doesn’t lack, however, are the flaws.

Also, the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote to Victoria Espinel that it’s not alright for the government to “throw its weight behind private agreements.”

In response, she e-mailed the EFF, saying that when Web advertising companies decided not to do business with so-called rogue websites, her office told them “it is critical that such efforts [are] consistent with…the Administration’s broader Internet policy principles.”

But the rights group is not convinced, and is driven to make suggestions on how to handle these issues. Here are some of them as seen on EFF’s official website:

The collateral damage caused by domain name seizures in cases like Dajaz1 and Puerto 80 (Rojadirecta)

Innovation and competition are the best way to reduce infringement

International agreements on IP laws should be negotiated in the open, with public participation and accountability

International agreements should allow countries to define their own patent, copyright, and trademark laws, and to make exceptions like fair use

Intellectual property laws and rules should be based on accurate data and sound conclusions, not on vague reports about why IP is good for the economy

“We’re going to continue talking to White House officials about the future of enforcement. We hope it will help to counter the message they hear incessantly from the entertainment industries that more enforcement is always better, regardless of the damage done to our rights. We’ll also be waiting to see how much Ms. Espinel takes EFF’s comments and others to heart in her next two-year strategic plan,” the EFF concluded.

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