
European Greens Want to Legalize File-Sharing - gasull
http://torrentfreak.com/european-greens-want-to-legalize-file-sharing-090604/
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ekpyrotic
Edit: It might be worthwhile visiting a post written by Tom Chance 6 days ago,
[http://tom.acrewoods.net/blog/2009/jun/european-
parliament-e...](http://tom.acrewoods.net/blog/2009/jun/european-parliament-
elections-green-party-and-free) , or visiting the The Green Party of England
and Wales's extensive policies:
<http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss/mfssec.html#EC990>

* * *

The Green Party of England and Wales also support file-sharing, taken from a
news item on the Green Party's own website [ref:
<http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/3496.html>].

"The Green Party condemns these as 'draconian measures' and warns they would
harm the quality of life of vulnerable people who use shared internet
connections and are likely to be targeted as suspects. The party also argues
that a healthy music industry, less dependent on corporate power, can continue
to thrive without attacking people's rights to share content...

"Draconian measures won't stem that loss. The speed and ease of file-transfer
makes it an increasingly attractive option compared to conventional shopping.
It's the difference between pressing a button and going out to get the bus to
the nearest music shop. If the music industry ever hopes to compete with that
convenience, it needs to develop both legal and fair means of sharing files.

Record companies typically want to develop software along the lines of iTunes;
a monopoly where individuals sign up and pay to legally share music. That's
clearly unsatisfactory. The money collected won't find its way to musicians -
the companies' typical charge against filesharing." (Tom Chance, the party's
Intellectual Property Spokesperson)

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arrrg
I’m really kinda surprised that the German Green party also supports that. I
always thought of them as being less, ahem, “extreme”.

But it is really, at least somehow, true. (See
[http://www.gruene.de/einzelansicht/artikel/das-netz-
waehlt-g...](http://www.gruene.de/einzelansicht/artikel/das-netz-waehlt-
gruen.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=212) – only German) Well, partly, at least.
One of their candidates is in favor of a culture flat rate. Their website
makes it pretty hard to identify if this is actually the official party line.
(And he just so made it into the parliament, the German Greens got 14 seats,
he is their 12th candidate.)

Kinda embarrassing to discover something like that after I have actually voted
for them. But I would guess that this is by no means a mainstream view inside
the Green party and parties.

