Industry groups and unions call for tighter anti-piracy controls across Europe

A number of industry groups and Trade Unions have joined the variety of artists and entertainment groups that are calling for Europe to crack down on piracy on a wide scale.

The war over anti-piracy and illegal downloads amongst broadband users has been raging for some time now, and according to a recent report more trade unions and industry groups have joined the various artists and entertainment groups that are already fighting for a more severe crackdown against online piracy across Europe.

A coalition has been formed to urge the European Union to be more stringent about cracking down on illegal file sharing across the board. The coalition claims that whilst the UK may have started taking action against those found to be illegally file sharing some parts of Europe are seriously lagging behind, and this could pose a risk to the creative and entertainment industry as a whole.

The European Audiovisual Social Dialogue Committee said in a recent statement: “The unauthorised filesharing of protected works and performances – as well as the need for all right holders to derive tangible benefits from the exploitation of their work – are important issues that need to be better recognised by the European commission and other EU institutions.”

The committee has said that it wants the internal market commissioner to “ensure that all member states have the necessary infrastructure to effectively enforce copyright protection laws and ensure all ISPs work to prevent illegal P2P filesharing and other IP infringements through their services.”

Chair of the Creative Coaltion Campaign and general secretary of Equity, Christine Payne, said: “Although the UK is taking a lead with the proposals outlined in the digital economy bill, unfortunately, other EU countries are lagging behind, putting the whole of the EU’s creative sector at serious risk.”

Source – Guardian