FSFE will be sending an open letter to the MEPs tonight when translations are done: http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ipred2/letter-april-2007.en.html
And I've put all the useful links I could think of into a blog entry: http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/act_now_on_ne...
The amendments that FSFE endorses are on this page (now also in PDF): http://action.ffii.org/ipred2/FFII_Analysis
The open letter is not exhaustive, and there is plenty I would like to add, but it hits the key points: * Short and simple enough for the MEP to read * Short enough to be translated to many languages in a short timeframe * Show that we have read the Directive and that we understand it * Make it clear that we want amendments, and say which amendments we want * Finish it and send it to the MEPs as early as possible * Show that the current text is *not* supported by the free software commmunity
(That last point is important because the person in charge of this Directive, Nicola Zingaretti, likes to tell people he is a free software supporter - so we have to tell MEPs that we do not support his version)
The amendments we're endorsing are very good. I would rather endorse rejecting the Directive, but that proposal would fail in the European Parliament, and I would rather the amendments didn't use the word "piracy" so much, but there are two good reasons for doing this. One is that "copyright piracy" is much narrower than "copyright infringement", which is good, and the other is that the TRIPS agreement requires that signatories prevent "copyright piracy", so by addressing "copyright piracy" in this Directive, we prevent people from using "copyright piracy" as an excuse for a further Directive.
The vote is next week and the MEPs are discussing it this week, so if you want to get active on this, please do so as soon as possible. The most useful thing to do is to contact your MEP and ask them to vote for the amendments that I linked above.