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Westminster eForums are generally fairly dry affairs but, perhaps due to the passion of the creative industries, yesterday's copyright shindig was an extremely lively affair. The debate came in the wake of the passage into law earlier this year of the Digital Economy Act. As we reported yesterday, the libertarian Tory peer Lord Lucas noted at the event that many in his noble House were keen to review the act, but that was little surprise — he was a longstanding opponent to many of its terms. What was more surprising was the view of almost everyone there that the penalties described in the act - things like bandwidth throttling and perhaps disconnection of repeat infringers - would not work. This was a room full of music and broadcast industry representatives, civil servants and lawyers (lots of lawyers). The only ones who could muster any enthusiasm for Mandy's package were a few of the lawyers, presumably rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of the many, many looming court cases that will follow the application of the penalties. Vanessa Barnett of BLP Law kicked off proceedings with a cheerfully downbeat assessment, comparing the current landscape with that of her teenage years, when peer pressure stopped her from copying CDs and, presumably, thus killing music.
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Topic: Rights Holders Ponder The Death Of Copyright (Read 673 times)
