The draft criminalises copyright breaches for companies with services or networks that are used to carry illegally copied material, meaning employees could face jail time for corporate breaches.
The controversial draft law from the European Commission has widespread implications for IT companies across the industry, but could make life especially difficult for firms like video-sharing giant YouTube, or music sharing services like LimeWire.
The initiative has already created an alliance of the strangest of bedfellows, with open source and freeware organisations like the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure joining in opposition corporate lobby groups like the Business Software Alliance.
The draft law aims to curb copying of copyright-protected music, film and software. But opponents of the draft are concerned about a clause that criminalises the aiding and abetting, or incitement to infringe an intellectual property – by providing the service or network service that allows the copying.
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