Vra Franz sent:

Thanks to HJ Affleck for this:

Europe's Antipiracy Proposal Draws Criticism
By PAUL MELLER
The New York Times

BRUSSELS, Oct. 19 - In an effort to fight product counterfeiting and
piracy, the European Union is preparing to enact a sweeping intellectual
property law that critics say is ill-conceived and tilted heavily in
favor of copyright and patent holders.

The proposal would go far beyond existing laws in Europe and the United
States by classifying copyright violations and patent infringements,
even some unwitting ones, as crimes punishable by prison terms.

Lawyers who have studied a draft of the proposed law say that not only
could a teenager who downloaded a music file be sent to jail under it;
so too could managers of the Internet service provider that the teenager
happened to use, whether they knew what the teenager was doing or not...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/business/worldbusiness/20lobby.html