Petition to the European Parliament

georgekildare

Some of you may remember that last summer, on the advice of EU civil servants and MEPs, I sent a petition to the European Parliament arguing that the present operation of Satellite television in Europe violated the principles of the Treaty of Rome. My main complaints were (i) my inability to (legally) subscribe to Irish satellite TV, as an Irish expatriate living in Holland, and (ii) the monopolistic pracrises of Sky.

I have at last heard something from Brussels. The Committee of Petitions considered the petition (912/2002) on 23 March and declared the petition admissable in accordance with the rules. They have asked the Commission to furnish them with the necesary information and will then continue the examination of the petition.

At least it hasn't been ruled out of order. Maybe within another year or two I will hear something more.

Fascinating, the wheels of the E.U do grind slow...very slow.
Keep us posted.
mm

seano

I found this on the web this morning.
It gives an interesting edge to the situation


EU SAYS PAY-TV OPERATORS TO BLAME FOR PIRACY
The European Union (EU) this week criticised Europe's pay-TV companies for
creating the conditions that encourage piracy of their services. In a new
report on electronic services the European Commission said: "significant
amounts of piracy result from the impossibility of obtaining pay
satellite-TV channels originating from other member states. EU citizens
fail to understand why, within the internal market, they cannot get
legitimate access to protected pay-TV services, even if they are prepared
to pay." Although their satellite footprints cover much of Europe,
broadcasters typically operate within a single country and refuse to supply
smart cards or access codes to people without a legitimate address or phone
number in that country. But operators including BSkyB and Canal Plus have
over recent years complained of increasing traffic in pirated cards and
codes. The broadcasters argue that their deals with content owners and
rights societies usually delimit the territorial rights to usage of the
film or programme. The Commission called for pay-TV companies and right
holders to seek contractual solutions and issued a veiled threat that if
they do not do so, it will propose new legislation. The report said that
electronic piracy in the EU had risen 500% since 1996. And it warned of the
consequences if it is not kept in check.
Bron: TSI

johnnyq

No doubt about that

Tell someone they can't do something and they will find a way to get what they want

Capt'n Midnight

RE Tell someone they can't do something and they will find a way to get what they want

It's not that - it's the fact that despite EU laws on free trade on goods and services - we still can't access the "common market" because of illegal practices on the part of big corporations. And so the illegal actions of big business is fueling criminal activity.

If you etrapolate it a good bit this is similar to how prohibition made the mob....

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I get very upset when certain big corporations try to set the law on joe public for two reasons..

1/ Many Corporations help seed Criminals

The whole grey imports thing, DVD regions, wholesale of tobacco products in to places like andorra and gibraltar far beyond local concumption levels, prohibition - these are some of the things that big business do to facilate or create an environment where criminal activity is seen as a victimless crime and so becomes showhow respectable. (as if giving China a DVD region will stop piracy..) Scary if you think about it

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2/ Many Corporations do not respect the law.

It is like most Irish drivers attitude to speeding used to be - treat the fine as a luxury tax... Many corporations use illegal or quasi-legal techniques to built up market share and again treat leglislation as a luxury tax or overdraft - real gains in the present are easy to offset against the samll risk of actually being fined and even then the fine is usually worth it considering the advantage gained. (or in the case of US corporations the fines have been paid in discount vouchers !)