I don't know how I got on WinXP News's mailing list, but I'm glad I did. The lastest edition came to my inbox (Hotmail, of course) with a startling article out of the European Union. BBC News reports that the EU just signed a directive giving copyright holders sweeping new powers to prevent "intellectual property rights." Though the directive doesn't specifically target music or software piracy, those things are encompassed; counterfeiters and copiers of any sort of copyrighted property face stiff sentences.

But that's not the scariest part. The article reports, "The directive allows companies to raid homes, seize property and ask courts to freeze bank accounts to protect trademarks or intellectual property they believe are being abused or stolen. Civil liberty and lobby groups feared that the music industry will also use the law to mount raids on the homes of people who swap songs via file-sharing systems such as Kazaa." Whoa! Raids? By private companies? We're that much closer to the future horror of Johnny Mnemonic (which was not only horrifying because of the corporate control of the state, but also because of Keanu Reeves and Ice-T).

How did this directive get through? Answer: "The European law was shepherded through the European Parliament by MEP Janelly Fourtou, wife of Jean-Rene Fourtou who is boss of media giant Vivendi Universal." Ho-ho! I guess it pays to have your hand in the EU Parliament jar when you're the president of one of the largest media companies in the world.

The European Union is a nasty place. In some cases, it fights tooth-and-nail against businesses (like Microsoft), but in this case, due to some back-patting, it has sided with business. I wish it would make up its mind.