[[!tag politics]]

The European Union is working on legislation that will remove much of people's freedom as far as their computers and Internet use are concerned:

• ISPs will be required to disconnect people after three accusations. Note: not convictions, merely accusations.
• ISPs will be required to analyze and filter all traffic just in case anyone does something that might be illegal. In other words, all Internet users in the EU will be monitored all the time. If the monitor decides, for whatever reason, that people are doing something they shouldn't, the people will be censored.
• Each member state will get the authority to specify which software applications people are allowed to run on computers connected to the Internet. Bye bye free software. Bye bye innovation.

For more information, see: laquadrature.net, the BBC, and FFII, among other places.

Now, it's perfectly possible that my understanding of the situation is not accurate. It's also possible that the BBC and FFII have misunderstood things. It's further possible that the proposed changes will not be accepted in the fall, when this comes up for voting at the full European Parliament. In fact, if Internet users join forces to combat this, it's likely that these changes will be rejected.

It is, however, completely clear to me that this is merely the latest attempt by the copyright mafia to strengthen their position of power. The mainstream media industry, especially the large, intertwined music and movie corporations, will not stop at anything to get complete control over people, and especially over their money. If this attempt fails, they'll come up with another. They'll do that even if this one succeeds! And then another, and another, and more. They have no intention to stop.

They get their money from people who buy, rent, watch, or listen to movies, music, and television. They use that money to harrass people and take away their freedom. The logical conclusion is to stop giving them money.

As of today, I will stop giving them money. I will not buy music, movies, television shows, or other forms of content. I will not rent it. I will not pay to see or hear or otherwise experience it in a theater, concert, or other performance. From today, I will assume anyone selling content is evil, unless they explain why they are not.

People selling their own works get a break: I will continue to assume their innocence.

This decision does not mean I will start breaking copyright law. Instead, I will stick to legally re-distributable content, and buy content from non-evil sources. I have the beginnings of a list of places to find such content on my home page (http://liw.fi/gratis-content/). It's still in the early stages, and I haven't even looked at most of the stuff there, but it's a start.

I also won't stop watching television. I stopped watching television many years ago already.

If that doesn't work out, I can always stick to books.