ECA sent a statement in support of the Norwegian artists' associations' petition asking for clarification before the Norwegian parliamentary elections on 14 September. You will find the ECA statement and the petition beneath.
11 September 2009
The European Council of Artists - representing the interests of over 200.000 artists organised in interdisciplinary artists' councils and artists' organisations in 26 European countries - hereby endorse the petition "Share - not Steal", presented by the Norwegian artists' organisations in order to urge their politicians to take a stand against pirate copying.
The spirit of this petition complies completely with our organisation’s mission statement and we will back this petition with all means possible that are available to the ECA. We shall be informing our members and others who have the artists’ interest at heart with our stand on this matter.
Narcy Calamatta
Vice-president
Share – not steal
Stop pirate copying
Legal file sharing is an asset.
Illegal file sharing is theft.
It shouldn’t be that because it is so easy to steal, we have to make it legal. It shouldn’t be that because everybody is doing it, we have to make it legal. At present a systematic and organised pirate copying of digital material is taking place in such staggering volumes that it is threatening the basic subsistence for artists, composers, film-makers, writers and others holding any authors’ rights.
Some political parties are proposing to legalise the pirate copying and compensate authors from the state budget or via special taxes, instead of securing the enforcement of Norwegian law that provides for these cases. We have a long tradition for good public support schemes for art and culture in Norway, but we cannot leave this matter in the hands of politicians who may choose to pay everything from the state budget and thereby make artists even more vulnerable to the changes of political whims and fancies.
We, who are signing this petition, urge the political parties to clarify their positions before this autumn’s elections so we will know who among them is serious about respecting authors’ rights and their legitimate droit morale.
This is a not authorised translation from Norwegian. You can find the original petition at www.deleikkestjele.no