Nouvel Observateur: Liberez la musique!

Published by Colin on 5th February 2005.

On Wednesday, French periodical Le Nouvel Observateur placed a manifesto online titled “we are all pirates” denouncing the disproportionate repression against peer to peer users in France and calling for an open debate on the subject. The call has attracted more than 16.000 signatures, including those of celebrities and politicians who declare being hardened criminals under French law as they have all downloaded music at some point in time.

Are these the first signs of an act of civil disobedience on a large scale? If everyone declared having downloaded copyrighted works could the repression continue? At the moment, they’re attempting to make examples of a few in order to scare the rest, but what if everyone stood up in “I am Spartacus” fashion?

Meanwhile, in the States, the RIAA has attempted to sue a deceased 83-year-old woman who hated computers, for trading more than 700 tracks online under the screen name “smittenedkitten”.

Something isn’t right out there....