Is the government's response to digitization more of the same?

Digitization Copyright and related rights

The government announced what can only be described as a major investment in copyright in this year's fall budget (pdf).

On the grounds that cultural and creative industries need to be protected from infringement, a number of proposals are made.

  • Swedish Media Council to inform ignorant children and young people about copyright
  • An industry code will be developed to support legal services
  • The need for a new crime classification - "serious copyright infringement" - will be investigated
  • PRV awarded a total of SEK 80 million to increase knowledge of intellectual property rights linked to economic growth, with a focus on digital infringement

Essentially, the government's initiative aims to continue strengthening the existing copyright system, which has been hacked to pieces over the last 20 years (hello internet!).

Friends of order may ask, have these measures had an effect? Or has an excessive focus on repression, protection of business models and the copyright system as such rather delayed the copyright industry's transition to a digital market? Evidence?

With the exception of parts of the investment in PRV, the proposals in the fall budget unfortunately give a clear picture that the government quite straightforwardly buys the film and music industry's, highly biased, description of reality.

If you're going to criticize others, you have to justify yourself and come up with constructive counter-proposals. You learn this in kindergarten. So here, in all good faith, are some tips for the government on its copyright journey into a digital future.

  • Focus and direction of copyright reform in a digital age - the copyright system (laws, conventions, contractual practices, etc.) is built on an analog conception of the market. The government should ask itself whether more of the same (tougher measures, longer terms of protection, requirements for internet operators to monitor their customers, etc.) will increase the functionality of the system (and not least public understanding and respect) when used in a digital market with completely different conditions for distribution and value creation?
  • Competition in the copyright market - collecting societies are natural monopolies, can the systems be streamlined (through transparency and oversight requirements) to work better in a digital reality so that the turnover of works can increase? Could this benefit both creators and consumers? Do we even need to ban them? If you can trade electricity rights on Nordpol, maybe you can do the same with copyrights?
  • Phasing out outdated parts of copyright - Sweden is at risk of having the highest cassette tape tax in the EU following a Supreme Court ruling this summer. This is for something that, according to market research, is essentially a marginal phenomenon. Consumers buy services and experiences, they have left copying behind. Yet they are being forced to pay for something they do not do. If the public is to be made to respect copyright, which the government seems to be very keen on according to the fall budget, is it not reasonable to investigate the raison d'être of the cassette tape tax?