Photo: Rights Alliance

The Board congratulates Maria Fredenslund and marks her great efforts for the Danish rights holders

Apr 21, 2022 | Analysis

21. April 2022

Maria Fredenslund celebrates her 40th birthday, which marks a great opportunity to look at the journey that Rights Alliance along with Maria has been on to secure rights online. It has not gone unnoticed in the seven years that Maria has been at the helm of Rights Alliance.

Maria has skillfully navigated the rights holders through a period where the Internet has been characterized by an activist mindset. The slogan “information wants to be free” did not leave room for distinctions between information that Internet users could legitimately share for free, and content which actors, filmmakers, publishers, writers, musicians, record companies, designers and furniture manufacturers have invested their time and resources in.

The creative and artistic professions were at the forefront when internet users discovered how easy it was to share music and movies – without paying. And it took a long time before there was a broad societal acceptance that the Internet had come to stay and was already an integral part of the rest of life, and therefore there was a need for regulation. Maria quickly understood this.

Maria received her law education from Johan Schlüter, where she was given responsibility for what was then called the AntiPirate Group. Maria saw a need for a different approach and rhetoric regarding the protection of rights on the Internet. She therefore founded Rights Alliance, which in 2015 became an independent interest organization, where right holders together fight for the recognition and protection of rights on the Internet.

Together with Rights Alliance, Maria has been at the forefront of a development from an internet, which was “the wild west”, where both authorities and rights holders were out of influence, to that today it is completely legitimate to regulate and sanction in the digital universe.

It has not been easy. On the contrary, it has been a long tough struggle through a time where Rights Alliance was looked at with disapproving eyes and where the rights holders’ cause was seen as a threat to the ideal of the free internet as part of the freedom of expression. With tireless drive and ambition, Maria Fredenslund has driven a development where rights protection is on the agenda, and where Rights Alliance is a recognized and respected organization that is listened to, and which has been the front runner for not only Denmark but also the international development of the enforcement capabilities of creative content on the Internet.

With Rights Alliance, Maria has managed to bring together – and keep together – the artistic and creative people and professions that make a living from creating high quality music, films, books and designs, in the fight against the common challenges of piracy. She has been outstanding at communicating to the policymakers that if we want continued high-quality music, films, literature and design, then there is a need for protection and regulation.

She has persistently maintained the importance of enforcement by engaging in dialogue with politicians and officials, authorities and relevant actors, and brought together telecommunications providers, the Ministry of Culture, rights holders and platforms in the development of joint solutions and initiatives such as Share With Care and the Code of Conduct. It has been crucial that the focus was shifted away from “pointing fingers” and harsh threats, to dealing with the general societal norms and consequences of piracy.

Maria has, with a great righteousness, set out to change the basic perception of the Internet so that artists’ rights can be protected and enforced, and so that the Internet at the same time becomes a safe place to be. She has driven development towards political agreement on prioritizing rights and ensuring effective enforcement tools, which are admired worldwide. She has helped ensure that we have a police force that today possesses both the skills and resources to enforce rights infringements. She has been at the forefront of the pressure on tech giants to establish a platform responsibility to hinder, that users share illegal content.

This effort has been a crucial factor in the shift from regulation on the internet being the artist’ and creative professions own problem, to being a societal responsibility. It has created the foundation that ensure that rights today can be protected concretely and effectively through direct enforcement measures, which a few years ago were unthinkable.

Thus, we are many who would like to thank Maria for her contribution to the fact that today we see political understanding and support, and that the content of Danish rights holders has the best enforcement options in the world – even when it is on the Internet.