Digital Age Copyright Reform Campaign "Time to Change Copyright!"

Friends, we are all more or less immersed in the problem of copyright, we are under the influence of legislation in this area, we complain about the imperfection of the existing picture of the relationship between the author, consumer and copyright holder, download content of varying degrees of licensing, upload our or someone else’s material to the Network, with information locks, we see tightening of state regulation and the desire of certain lobby structures to introduce more and more absurd legal norms over and over again.

But we do not see the positive results of the struggle that only one subject of relations in the field of copyright imposes on us all - the copyright holder, the intermediary between the author and the consumer. Instead of acting as effective managers who establish convenient, high-quality, diverse and simple connections between the creator of works and those who contemplate, listen, use them, copyright holders (not all of them, but their most noticeable and most media-active ones) try to build its model based on prohibition, non-persecution, blocking and prosecution.

It seems that this approach is unconstructive and has a negative impact not only on the objects and subjects of such persecution, but also on the authors and, in general, on the development of the Internet and economic relations in it.

Campaign "Time to change copyright! " including aims to establish a dialogue between all participants in these relationships: authors, Internet users, copyright holders, the state and representatives of the IT business.
Without a new social contract, legislative actions to take into account the interests of only one side of this process will be leveled by civic denial and illegitimacy . de facto
can not be called a thief 99% of Russian citizens and impose the rule of law.
It should reflect and analyze qualitative - why is this happening That the vast majority do not consider the status quo in the copyright fair and adequate reflection of reality in this digital age.



Let's think together how to get away from the prevailing absurdity to taking into account mutual interests and compromise solutions.

But one thing now can converge on all sides: copyright reform is ripe.
Internet users do not want to live by the rules established back in the Middle Ages, and copyright holders cannot fit into the digital world.

We put forward proposals for progressive copyright reform with the opportunity for a wide community discussion on the concept of changing copyright laws in the digital age.

Among our proposals:
- transfer to the public domain of the Soviet cultural heritage, as well as the results of intellectual activity created at the expense of state budget funds;
- reduction of copyright protection terms;
- decriminalization of non-commercial file sharing;
- legislative consolidation of the concept of “fair use” (“fair use”);
- legislative consolidation of free licenses and their promotion;
- to audit the activities of societies for collective management of copyright and to more clearly define the scope of their activities;
- Revision of the application of DRM.


The proposed Concept of copyright reform in the digital age has been put up for public discussion on the RosKomZakon portal .
If you have something to offer, comment on, comment on, or support the opinion of another participant in the discussion process, then especially for convenienceeach point of the Concept is displayed in a separate discussion thread .

According to the results of the public discussion, a consolidated proposal on copyright reform will be sent to the European Commission, which is reforming the international copyright law, to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, as well as relevant government agencies. It is very important not only to collect your opinions, but also to convey them to those who must make decisions.
We will try to do this. And present the results of our common actions.

And now we have prepared the result of public discussion of the new version of the “anti-piracy” bill from the Ministry of Culture:



We have already submitted this document to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, which initiated the bill, the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation, which has its own vision of solving the problem, as well as to other representatives of the legislative and executive authorities, IT-business, public organizations and put it in public access for everyone interested parties.

This is all part of the copyright reform campaign that we want to make large-scale, meaningful and effective.
In our common interests.
Naturally, if you support it to one degree or another.