Sir Cliff Sticks It to the Man

First there was Greek Keyboard God Vangelis, who stuck it to the Man. Now there's Sir Cliff Richard speaking out for the artist in all of us. He's one of the 134 parties that have submitted a contribution to the consultation on European copyright legislation. Of those contributions 126 have been put online now.

Except from jubilating his musical career Sir Cliff speaks out for an extention of European copyright protection, because

[C]ertainly all of my biggest 'hits' will, under current legislation, fall into the public domain during the next 10 years. As, arguably, the first British 'pop' artist of the modern era to achieve significant international success I am likely to be the first major British artist of that era to be significantly affected by the copyright in my recordings expiring.

While Sir Cliff is on a crusade for his pension, and possibly of some other artists, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has a broader scheme in mind: criminalization of copyright infringement and data retention for (copyright) law enforcement purposes (read: suing the living dolls out of file-sharers). Here are the related extracts from the MPA's contribution to the consultation:

Criminalization:

The EU should redouble its efforts to ensure effective enforcement of copyright. The "Enforcement" Directive was adopted in April 2004 and offers a threshold level of enforcement possibilities for civil cases. MPA strongly supports the efforts of the Commission to introduce, criminal remedies and believes the EU must strengthen the penal framework for combating piracy. The adoption of a coherent crime policy by the Union will ensure adequate and consistent sentencing of offenders by the courts.

Data retention:

It is also essential that the adoption of new data retention rules does not undermine the rights of access to data provided in the Enforcement Directive.