The Pirate Party's sole current MEP has drawn up a report for the
European Parliament proposing
reforms
to copyright law.
For the European Union to adopt these reforms would be a substantial
step forward. However, they fall far short of what is needed to make
copyright tolerable.
In particular, they fail to establish the right to share copies
(noncommercial redistribution without change). They shorten the
copyright term a little, but leave it lasting an absurdly long time.
The weakness comes at the root: the report accepts unjust treaties
that we need to eliminate, such as the Berne Convention, as well as
the World Trade Organization that must be destroyed for other
larger
reasons as well as copyright.
As a matter of practical politics, this may be the best one could hope
the European Parliament to pass, or perhaps more than it could pass.
However, Europeans, and especially parties such as the Pirate Parties
that stand for the freedom to share, must demand far more reduction in
copyright power, even if they cannot achieve it now.
This makes it especially worrisome that this report was drawn up by
the Pirate Party's sole MEP.
The fact that it was written by her does not make it any better or any
worse than if someone else had written it. However, soon she will
have the responsibility to say that the report's reforms are
inadequate. Will she be able to say that after having written it
herself? Or has she in effect allowed herself to be co-opted by the
establishment?