OK, I thought it would take about half a year before I had to write this post, but sadly it didn't even take a whole month. I am writing about the situation in Austria here, but in my opinion this issue is relevant for all of Europe, if not the world.

As of April 1st 2012, all connection data on the internet as well as on mobile networks (including IP addresses, surfed websites, emails, calls and their location information, lenght of connection and so on) has to be stored by law by the ISPs or cellular providers for 6 months. This is called "Vorratsdatenspeicherung" in German and is the result of the EU wide Data Retention Directive. If you've got the nerve you can read the exact wording HERE.

The problem with this directive is that it

1. In essence ignores the fact that there is something called presumtion of innocence, a basic principle which serves as the foundation of much of our understanding of society

2. Violates privacy - a human right.

3. Is bound to be abused by law enforcement agencies and those who are willing to pay a price for a nice piece of data

4. Can be used to track your each and every step while on the cell phone - here's a nice example of what can be done with this kind of data

5. Is not going to make Europe a safer place but criminalizes millions of internet and cellphone users.

I think I could continue this list all day, but let's head to the original intent of my post. Politicians always wanted to sell us this directive as means to effectively fight radical groups and prevent the most serious crimes. Never was there a word that this would be used for crimes of a much lesser nature.

But now, not even a month after this bill has passed in Austria, the content industry is rising and demanding to use this data to hunt down copyright violators and raise the minimum sentence for these crimes over 2 years, which is the limit for accessing the connections. Further, they are demading to transfer the crimes from Civil to Criminal Law, in order to justify their actions. There are some articles in Austrian newspaper Der Standard (german only) which cover these claims by the Austrian Association for Anti-Piracy and the sentence by the Court of Justice of the European Community about Data Retention and File-Sharing.

And now it suddenly all makes sense - data retention was never intended to be used solely as a tool against terrorists, fitting in perfectly between ACTA, IPRED, INDECT, SOPA, PIPA, CISPA, ... you name it. It's a brave new world we're headed too!

But I wouldn't be posting this if there wasn't at least an opportunity of acting out against this nonsense. Again, I'm writing this now with citizens of Austria in mind, but there is a multitude of ways to act globally.

There is a class-action suit against the directive, which you can join at

https://www.verfassungsklage.at/

All you have to do is fill in a form, print and send it before May 18 2012. More than 100.000 people have already petitioned online against it and this is the continuation of the resistance.

Get out there and spread the word!

P.S.: And if you'd rather browse anonymously, here's something useful:

https://www.torproject.org/

P.P.S.: This is something all of those content-extremists should take to heart before lobbying for stricter laws. An interview by Gabe Newell (a sort of semi-god within the gaming community - creator of the Half-Life universe and founder of Valve and Steam, an online gaming platform) which basically boils down to one important statement:

"Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem."

Text quoted from the original interview, which you can read in full HERE.

Latest addition to the Rotaug-DJ-Roster DJ Sugar Cane drops his first mix. 30 soulful minutes named "Piece of Sugar Pt1", a strictly vinyl two turntables and a mixer one take affair. File under soulful and funky.

Spread the word and enjoy...

LISTEN AND DOWNLOAD THE MIX RIGHT HERE

Information on ACTA first became public in 2007, but only after wikileaks posted a document called "Discussion Paper on a Possible Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" several watchdog organizations specialized in digital rights realized the severeness and the implications. From that point on the development of the document was treated as a "state secret" and the public was refused access to the document. On the other hand the paper was freely shared with industry lobbyists. In 2009 two organizations, the EFF & Public Knowledge, were forced to drop a lawsuit where they were requesting information on the paper. Today ACTA was signed by 30 states and the EU  so far. Its aim is to create an international regime for imposing civil and criminal penalties on internet piracy and counterfeiting. The problem with the document is that it is intentionally vague (signatories are left to draw up precise rules themselves). But it is potentially draconian. Infringers could be liable for the total loss of potential sales (implying that everyone who buys a pirated product would have bought the real thing). It applies to unintentional use of copyright material pressuring website owners to ensure they comply with the laws of…. who knows how many countries. It has been negotiated secretively and outside established international trade bodies (despite EU criticisms). This means it has ignored the views of other countries it will affect, chiefly emerging markets.

Most copyrights come almost exclusively with geographical restrictions and this is one of the main issues. The copyright owners deliberately (and freely) choose not to sell a product to certain countries. The main reason for this is that they want to stick to the old model of having several stages of release on different markets. The downside of this model is that some products are released much later or they never get released on a certain market. If people were able to legally purchase any content in any desirable language anywhere in the world there would be fewer "pirates" on the planet. But seriously, if i would have to wait for f.e. japanese or korean series, to be shown on ORF or to pop up in a shelve of a vienna store or at least to be available in original language(with proper subs!) on a digital store (i am allowed to shop), i can grow a long long beard in the meantime. It is about getting access to content not getting it for free. The old release system functioned back in the days when it was still necessary to deliver a physical product, but there is no more need for that and there is a benefit in not sending tons of stuff over oceans, i guess.

Join the protest on Feb. 25th!
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