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  • From: Gisle Hannemyr <gisle AT ifi.uio.no>
  • To: cc-europe AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [CC-Europe] EDRI
  • Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2012 04:46:57 +0200

On 31.03.2012 20:45, Teresa Nobre wrote:
> As far as I know, SOPA, PIPA and ACTA do not interfere with the CC licences
> and tools as such. If that's all that matters for CC, we can end the
> discussion here. If not (and I sense it's not), let's continue the
> discussion.

OK

> To be honest, I can’t even understand how can someone be
> in favour of criminalising such “piracy” acts. Maybe because I'm married
> with a criminal judge who deals everyday with imprisoned people (meaning
> individuals, named Ana and Bernard, not people numbered 1 and 2), maybe
> because I've been there counselling and prison in real life smells and
> tastes and hurts (and it's not just a bad dream), maybe because I do value
> a lot freedom and I think that any limitation of one's freedom should
> always be the last resource.

While I disagree, that's fine with me. You can hold and express
any opinion you like about this.

The question is: Should you, in the capacity of being a CC officer
and spokesperson, express this opinion about criminalising piracy
in public? (For avoidance of doubt: You may of course say whatever
you want in public in the capacity of being a citizen).

My country, Norway, imposes criminal procedures and penalties
on acts of piracy. I have no problem with that.

Our neighbour, Sweden, also imposes criminal procedures and penalties
on acts of piracy. In the the recent Pirate Bay trial, four
individuals were found guilty of aiding and abetting criminal
piracy, and given prison sentences as follows: Gottfrid Svartholm
Warg (12 months), Fredrik Neij (10 months), Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi
(8 months), Carl Lundström (4 months). I have no problem with that.

However, when asked by the media to comment on the Swedish prison
sentences in the capacity of being the public head of CC Norway,
I've always declined to comment.

*If* I had commented, I would probably have said something this:

Creative Commons provides tools and licenses that allows artists
to better control the distribution and sharing of their own works.
Creative Commons do not approve of acts that aids and abets those
who take the law into their own hands to take this control away
from the artist. Therefore, we believe that the criminal sanctions
imposed on these four men are appropriate.

I could have gone on to argue that operations like The Pirate Bay is
harmful to, and interferes with, Creative Commons tools and licenses
by running an operation that makes those tools and licenses redundant.
However, since I suspect that some of you do not necessarily share
this opinion, I decided to keep my mouth shut.

My point is simple this: We obviously hold different opinions about
the criminalisation of piracy (and probably a lot of other things).
I think we can agree to disagree about these things, and still both
work for the same organisation, as long as our private opinions does
not conflict with the mission of the organization.

However, it will be confusing to the public, harmful to the reputation
of the Creative Commons, and also create friction within the
organisation, if miscellaneous CC officers publicly take *opposing*
positions on various controversial issues (e.g. ACTA, SOPA, PIPA,
etc.) that strictly speaking has very little to do with the mission
of Creative Commons.
--
- gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://folk.uio.no/gisle/ ]
========================================================================
"Don't follow leaders // Watch the parkin' meters" - Bob Dylan




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