[Fsfe-ie] European consumer digital rights campaign

[teresahackett at eircom.net]

New campaign by the European consumers' organisation. Includes an 
interview with the President of FSF France.

http://www.consumersdigitalrights.org/

Declaration

The time has come to guarantee consumers certain basic rights in the
digital world, and to tell them what they can do with their digital
hardware/content. This is our message in this campaign.


* Right to choice, knowledge and cultural diversity
* Right to the principle of “technical neutrality” – defend and maintain
consumer rights in the digital environment
* Right to benefit from technological innovations without abusive
restrictions
* Right to interoperability of content and devices
* Right to the protection of privacy
* Right not to be criminalised

We urge policy makers to endorse the 6 Consumers Digital Rights, and
demand: A legal framework that will encourage new means of exposure and
distribution of digital content, while guaranteeing remuneration to
artists, creators and performers and providing consumers and the public
with new means of access, discovery and new uses;

A new balance between exclusive rights in the exploitation of digital
content and public interest objectives in using and sharing such
content, taking into account the new possibilities of content usage
enabled by technical progress;

That industry desist from legal action against P2P downloaders to allow
the market to find solutions for the on-line development of audio/visual
distribution that takes due account of the public interest and the
interest of artists, creators and performers;

Action to find solutions on how consumers can effectively exercise their
private use rights and to guarantee that users of DRMs respect the
legitimate interest of consumers in their personal autonomy and private
sphere;

Mechanisms to ensure that TPMs or DRMs, which restrict uses legally
exempted from copyright or not falling under copyright, do not benefit
from legal protection;

A review of the EU legal framework on consumer protection and
intellectual property in view of the 6 consumers rights demands
expressed in this Declaration.