Link to a German article on web piracy

[estepheia]

This sucks!
A new amendment to a law regarding P2P downloads has been passed and will be in effect as of next year: from then on it will be illegal to create additional copies of CDs even if they stay in the family, i.e. if we want to listen to music in the car we have to use our original CDs. I guess that also means it's illegal to make your own compilations.
Also, intenet providers will have to store records of what people download and they have to pass the information on, if Warner, Sony, or EMI want to identify torrent-downloaders. And then Warner, Sony, and EMI and all the others can persecute. Theoretically, downloading a single CD or movie from the net can buy you two years in jail.

My stance on this is: as long as theTV industry can't provide me with the means to watch a show when my friends abroad watch it, and as long as I can't turn off the German synchronisation on TV, I am forced to download. I never download movies anyway, and barely any music (usually I listen to it once and then I delete it). I can see how movie downloading cuts the profits dramatically, but I can say in good conscience that I'd happily buy more movies on DVD if they weren't so grossly overpriced!

*sigh* I was in such a good mood this morning. But now? Gone. *growl*

Comments

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Very annoying indeed. How dare they?

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, how dare they! Guess who's been lobbying.
Why can't I choose worldwide which TV channel to watch?

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

It is worrying, and not a little annoying, but...how are they ever going to enforce this? I don't see how it can be done.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Well, once they have sufficient indicators of a download -- and we *do* leave electronic tracks -- a copyright owner could directly forward it to the State Attorney, who can make ISPs to disclose their transfer data...

Thanks, Steffi. This does suck. Very badly.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

It's disconcerting. Global fandom can't exist without downloads. I remember times when I had to have people tape Buffy episodes on video tapes and get them mailed to me from the states. Postage was incredibly expensive. that's how I watched the 5th season of Buffy - on tapes that had been badly converted to PAL. *sigh*

I feel like a member of an international community, but evidently RL hasn't quite caught up with the virtual joining of hands...

Maybe I should move after all.

[shapinglight]

I can see why. That's harsh.

[justhuman.livejournal.com]

This is a big blow to fandom at large. A lot of the torrents that everyone around the world are downloading are coming out of Germany. The German fines won't apply to someone in Canada or the US, but the Sony's of the world can use the info to go after individuals as we've seen in the past.

But jeez, not being able to make your own compilations is taking it way to far. Controlling the content is one thing but controlling how we experience the content it taking it way too far.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think this will directly affect fandoms of all kind. It's depressing.

If the industry produced affordable DVDs and CDs there would be no need for all the copy protection.

I wish people would actively fight this legislation.

[rubywisp.livejournal.com]

How horrible!