The Times is reporting that EU leaders agreed to give more rights to internet consumers.  This agreement will help pad consumers from a kind of global DMCA, at least in the EU. This agreement bars certain types of regulations from taking place in the new telecommunications act that France and other countries are looking at or trying to pass. Basically, France was trying to adopt a “three strikes” plan that would bar consumers from the internet after three reports from telephone, ISP, or mobile companies of alleged copyright infringements. The biggest problem with this is that these consumers would not even be able to gain a fair trial; they would be service-less without even being proven guilty of copyright crimes.

The Soapbox

I am glad that the EU has come to their senses and actually listened to consumers and citizens, yet I still believe that there is going to be a problem.  I love how the Times reports this at the end of the article:

National regulators in the European Union will also gain the power to break up dominant telephone companies, which regulators in Italy and Poland are considering. The law also establishes rules for creating an E.U.-wide range of common frequencies for mobile broadband freed up by broadcasters in the transition to digital transmission.

All that ans no mention of how instead of infringing consumers rights, they are going to infringe on “dominant” telephone companies. I am a stern believer of the government staying out of the consumer’s way and granting consumers the right to use the internet in a lawful way just as much as I am a believer of the government staying out of strong business’s ways. This type of shifty wording allows the government to break up any telephone company that they feel is “dominant”.

So, instead of only protecting consumers by not letting businesses govern what’s right and wrong the EU decides to take control of the businesses themselves. I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of the end of consumer and telco business rights in the EU.