Hargreaves and the Future of Pirate Policies

As you may be already aware, today the Government published the long-awaited Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth.  As we had made clear in our submission to the review, copyright and patents should 'make not break markets', and the rights of innovators and artists must be balanced with those of the public to enjoy such work.

Unfortunately the review has not presented the kinds of radical shifts and reforms that we hoped for. It deals with some of the peripheral issues — albeit fairly well, and in a way that we support — but it still leaves the core, vitally important and urgent problems we face unaddressed.

The report presents us with one of the many battlefields upon which we are likely to find ourselves fighting over the next few years.  This review may form the basis of future legislation, but it is quite likely that those points on which we agree with the review will face serious opposition from the deep pockets and powerful lobbyists of the traditional media and content industries.

Over the next few days we hope to provide you and the public with a more detailed overview of potential impact of the Review, as well as what it means to us. Keep an eye on this blog and the forums!

We must act now. 

Our aims and principles are popular, but we are not getting our message out. Yes, this is partly because the media ignores us, but it is also because we need to be better at communicating our position to the public. There is little room for complacency. The future is up for grabs, and we need to ensure that the shape it takes is one that we can agree with, and one that benefits us all. We need to push and push hard, in every way that we can.

The difficulties we will face are, in fact, dealt with in the review.  As a party that sees itself as progressive and aims to achieve reform, it is clear to us that "businesses … need change, in the form of more open, contestable and effective global markets in digital content". And like Professor Hargreaves, we "urge Government to ensure that in future, policy on Intellectual Property issues is constructed on the basis of evidence, rather than weight of lobbying." But we will be facing the brunt of that lobbying, we will see our message and principles ignored, ridiculed and opposed at each step, and we will have to qualify and justify every position we take in the face of serious opposition.

We can do it — together.

With your help we can press forward in this area and others that we know are so important for Britain in the Information Age.  We are doing this to ensure that the future is one in which society is free and open. We are doing this to ensure that the barriers that currently exist to artists, innovators and small business are knocked aside, and we know that the ultimate beneficiaries of our struggle will be normal people, leading normal and ever increasingly interconnected lives.

We need your support now more than ever, so if you have the time to help officially, or can lend us your support in any other way, regardless of capacity, please let us know.  This issue is not the only area in which we are working at the moment (though it is the most immediate), and there are other important issues and vital initiatives that would greatly benefit from your support.  Take a look at the forums and get involved if you can.