Sunday 29 March 2009

Your iPod - Under threat.

The EU is threatening to take away our iPods, MP3s, mobile phones and for that matter, all devices which can store and play music.

The EU supports the ACTA Treaty. This treaty claims to be about protecting intellectual property, cracking down on piracy and preventing copyright theft. No one objects to sensible measures in this regard. However, ACTA is not about sensible legal protection.

ACTA is principally about spying on people. After all, you can’t be arrested for downloading files from the internet unless the state knows what you are up to on the internet in the first place. Under terms of the ACTA Treaty, the government will be able to spy on your internet behaviour, and seize your iPod. Secondly, it is about arresting and fining them.

The scary thing is how easy it will be to fall foul of ACTA and thus lose your iPod, get fined or even jailed.

The average iPod contains 800 tracks which violate ACTA, and 96% of under 25 year olds have violated at least one ACTA provision (source: The Times 16/6/08
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article4144585.ece

In other words, it will criminalise virtually every music fan.

Finally, any TV shows on your iPod may be illegal in other EU countries. Any shows with jokes about gender, race or religion could get you sent to another EU country and punished there. The EU Arrest Warrant makes this a possibility.

The Conservatives, Lib Dems, Labour and Green Party all support the EU, and thus cannot oppose the EU’s control over this treaty. Only UKIP opposes it.

On June 4th, Keep your iPod – Vote UKIP

ukipsaveouripods.blogspot.com

UKIP Save our iPods facebook page