Analysis: Web independence comes under lobby attack

Posted on 7 Aug 2006 at 15:22

The US and its computing corporations have long held a position of power in all
things Internet, but as the Web grows more profitable, the Americans are brandishing the big stick as never before.

Recent closures of websites and government-level pressure on entire nations - with threats of World Trade Organisation (WTO) exclusion - pose the question: how much power do US companies assert over lawmakers worldwide?

US intervention in the European Union - where many of our policies on issues such as Internet law and software patents are founded - is remarkably low key. They're carried out by faceless lobby groups serving big business at the expense of the general public.

'Consumer rights are significantly affected when lobbyists tip the balance away from the public good,' said Suw Charman of the Open Rights Group. 'For example, laws are being used to protect DRM software by companies such as Apple, which then price discriminate within the supposedly single EU market. The cost of an iTunes Music Store track is higher in the UK than in the rest of the EU.'

According to official figures, US copyrightable entertainment and software exports amount to $626 billion a year, or 6 per cent of the country's GDP. No wonder the country's statesmen want to protect interests abroad and, when US-based lobbyists ask for help, it appears that federal trade delegates are often happy to oblige by badgering foreign governments.

Take the case of Pirate Bay, a portal that directs users to BitTorrent streams of copyrighted music and films. The site thought it was acting within Sweden's laws until the content industries persuaded the US government to put pressure on its Swedish counterparts to toughen rules and forced the closure of the site.

Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, says his organisation and US government representatives don't impose laws on other countries, but admits: 'We do look around the world to see if laws need to be improved, then we make suggestions.' An offer they can't refuse?

As Russia's finding out, there can be huge implications if those suggestions aren't followed, with the Americans reportedly threatening to block Moscow's entry to the WTO if the country doesn't shut down Allofmp3.com, which sells unlicensed music.

The site says it breaks no Russian laws, but that doesn't mean it will escape the long arm of the lobbyists, as previous Scandinavian cases have shown.

'The music industry seems to have more weight than the democratically elected government in Sweden, and similarly initially in Norway, where [code-cracker] DVD-Jon was harassed and prosecuted despite violating no Norwegian law,' said Charman.

And the lobbying doesn't end with arguably piratical websites, extending to civil liberty laws. When EU antiterror data-retention laws were discussed in Europe, the lobby group Creative and Media Business Alliance (CMBA) pushed hard for legislation to be extended to help the music industry prosecute illegal downloaders.

'The scope of the proposal should be extended to all criminal offences,' the CMBA told European representatives. 'The possibility for law-enforcement authorities to use data in other cases is essential.'

At least the CMBA is open about its aims to treat us all as criminals - many other lobbyists are known only to the members of parliament with whom they interact.

'This kind of influence is often hidden,' said Ulrich Mueller of the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). 'There need to be mandatory transparency obligations for lobbyists, and ethic rules that are supervised and enforced by an independent public body.'