[Fsfe-ie] Slashdot submission on Enforcement Directive

[James Heald]

Below is my best shot at a Slashdot submission on the Enforcement Directive.

Slashdot editors don't like being spammed, so it may not be a good idea
to submit the exact same text, but I think this is pretty close to what
we want to say.

So probably a good idea to try different titles, change the text a bit,
whatever you think could give it more impact.

In the past we have found Slashdot is *the* way to get a story out to
the English-speaking FFII community... let's go for it.


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<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/35689.html">The
Register</a> is reporting on <a
href="http://www.ffii.org.uk/releases/040219_trust.html">this alert</a>
from FFII about a new <a
href="http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/04/st06/st06376.en04.pdf">EU
Directive on IP enforcement</a> due to go to the Parliament legal
affairs sub-committee on Monday, and full Plenary in two weeks time. The
detailed text of the measure was only published on Tuesday. FFII says
that without better defined safeguards the Directive will lead to a far
more agressive, lawyer-driven legal environment for creative businesses.
  Having seen how similar legislation is used in the United States, FFII
fears that it will provide the perfect means for agressive litigators
holding dubious intellectual property rights to "pull a SCO" and use the
powers of the Directive to seriously harass and damage small open-source
projects and innovative businesses. FFII has a list of MEPs to contact
<a href="http://www.ffii.org.uk/ip_enforce/timetable.html">here</a>.