Is Peru Going To Get Its Own SOPA?

from the again-and-again-and-again dept

It never stops. What the entertainment industry fails to get in one place, it just looks to get implemented in the law somewhere else, so that it can point to that as an "example" for others to follow -- and then often use questionable "free trade agreements" to force through similar rules. Earlier this year, we noted that Colombia rushed through a SOPA-like law after signing a free trade agreement with the US. This despite growing evidence that countries who ratchet up their IP laws don't see much benefit from doing so.Now we're hearing stories that something similar may be happening down in Peru, where there's been an ongoing (if odd ) debate about how to deal with copyright infringement. Apparently, there are growing concerns that the crux of the bill will be to put the liability on third parties , including ISPs, search engines and others, with the expectation that by dumping the liability on them, they'll somehow magically stop piracy. It's the same old story: because the entertainment industry refuses to adapt its business models, it wants to rope in third parties and make them legally liable for propping up the failing models. Of course, all that actually will do is lead to much greater costs for users, and will make it much harder for internet companies to operate in Peru.Hopefully, the government there doesn't go down this particular path -- especially since there are reports that the industry is hoping to use what comes out of Peru as an "example" of what other countries in the region should do as well.

Filed Under: copyright, peru, sopa