U.S. tries imposing copyright laws on Israel

It's stories like this that almost make you lapse into suspension of disbelief mode. This is another of those utterly mind-boggling examples of public policies getting more extreme and corporate-driven than anyone would have ever thought possible.

The Bush regime is trying to use its uncontested omnipotence to force Israel to make its copyright laws more unfriendly to consumers. The United States - under the illegal DMCA - now has some of the most labyrinthine and rigid copyright laws in the world, stifling art and science to a degree that was never intended when the concept of copyright was created. But this makes the U.S. and A. one of few countries that pleases the angry diktats of the International Intellectual Property Alliance, an organization representing American entertainment corporations. The IIPA works with the United States Trade Representative, a presidential appointment. (How's that for government doing Corporate America's bidding?)

Recently the IIPA submitted a report to the U.S. Trade Representative blasting Canada for not "modernizing" its copyright law to meet the WIPO treaties. When the IIPA talks about "modernizing" something, they mean: pre-Newt, bad; post-Newt, good. In the IIPA's world, copyright laws as they existed only a decade ago are to be flushed down the memory hole. The IIPA expects the U.S. to be the worldwide enforcer of rogue laws like the DMCA, even though the DMCA is only a U.S. law.

Israel is the target of similar IIPA whining. Naturally, the U.S. Trade Representative's office has been pleading and begging with Israel to change its laws to conform to American laws - or else. The U.S. wants Israel to ban technology that helps folks circumvent questionable digital "rights" management methods, and implement other draconian measures like those found in the DMCA. The Bush regime's excuse is that Israel needs to do this to comply with the WIPO agreements.

But Israel won't budge. For one thing, Israel is not a signatory to the miserable WIPO treaties that discuss digital "rights" management. For another, Israel already made its copyright laws much more stringent just last year - but just not to the degree the IIPA wants.

Under current Israeli law, copyright holders may notify ISP's if infringing material is on their servers, and customers receive 3 days to respond the charge. But under America's DMCA, a copyright holder can get material taken down just at the snap of a finger, with almost no chance for appeal. The IIPA is specifically demanding Israel implement a law like this provision of the DMCA. Israel, however, points out that it has no obligation to pass such a law. So tough shit, IIPA.

Forcing other countries to comply with an illegal U.S. copyright law has become a priority of the U.S. government?

If America would repeal the decade-old DMCA, that might put the IIPA in its place. By working so closely with the U.S. Trade Representative to make demands that hurt consumers, the IIPA already represents too much of a melding of government and business.

(Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080318-israel-rebukes-us-our-copyright-laws-are-fine-thanks.html;
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080212-esa-iipa-slam-canada-for-not-fixing-copyright-deficiencies.html)