Rattle wrote:
] ] Not content with creating a continent-spanning
] ] lawsuit-sharing network using special P2P (person to
] ] perpetrator) technology, the record companies'
] ] consortium, the International Federation of Phonographic
] ] Industries (IFPI) now wants your ISP to sign up to a new
] ] "code of conduct" that it has helpfully drafted with the
] ] help of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

This reminds me of a scam the BSA was running a few years ago where they would threaten to charge small ISPs with contributory infringement unless they agreed to a similar list of terms. The ISPs would sign the contract because they didn't have the resources to defend themselves. Then the BSA would hold up those ISPs as examples of people who'd agreed to their terms when they went after additional ISPs. The BSA was thwarted. In today's environment the risk of contributory infringement charges is even lower. The media industry doesn't really have a negotiating position here. I imagine that this is theater mostly. Stupid UNoids don't understand what "severs" are or whether people should run them. Sending up this code of content sends a message that they are trying to operate without help from the government and they can't, so please UN, please do something...

You recall when you were a kid and you would ask your mom for something and she would say no, so you'd go ask your dad and he would say yes. Thats what the UN, WIPO in particular, is becoming. These guys ask the national government. The national government says no. So they ask the UN. The UN says yes. Then the national government is bound to accept the UN policy as a UN participant. This is how the DMCA happened. (ICANN presents a similar concern.)

Who is right? Lefties tend to think the UN is always right because they think individual governments are run by corrupt tyrants. Righties tend to think the UN is always wrong because they think national governments have more legitimacy. I think having absolute ideas about this is dumb.

The UN is not always wrong. Unicef is not evil. Executing minors probably is. The UN is also not always right. SOME national governments have deliberative processes that are far more legitimate and mature then the UN's. Many important stakeholders are excluded from the UN process, often because there is little connection between the democratic government in a country and it's UN representation, and the UN tries to keep its doors closed.

Having said all of this, WIPO delegates, and in particular the official US delegation, have shown little understanding of or respect for the realities of intellectual property in this day and age. From throwing literature into the trash at meetings to arguing against having forums on open source software, there are a number of people engaged with WIPO who simply are neither mature enough nor informed enough to be involved.

Continued observation from the public might make a difference. The last thing we want is this stuff going on behind closed doors.