Swiss insist file-sharers don't hurt copyright holders
P2P still OK for personal use, government rules
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The Swiss government has ruled that downloading pirated copies of films, music and videogames for personal use will remain legal because it is of not detrimental to copyright owners.
Last year, the Swiss Senate ordered an investigation into the impact downloading may have on society, in case further legislation was required on the matter. The Federal Council has reported its findings, and effectively ruled in favour of personal file-sharing.
Drawing on results from a previous Dutch File-sharing survey, the report insists the entertainment world doesn't lose money because of piracy. While around a third of Swiss citizens over the age of 15 download pirated content, they don't spend any less money on entertainment than usual.
"The percentage of disposable income spent on consumption in this area remains constant," the report notes, though it points to changing patterns of spending: less on music, more on games, for instance.
The report also deems other countries' anti-piracy measures repressive and questions the legality of laws such as the three-strike Hadopi method imposed in France. With the UN labelling Internet access a human right, the report reckons Hadopi is far too harsh and should be repealed.
Any other Internet censorship, such as filtering or blocking websites has also been rejected as it would damage freedom of speech and violate privacy protection laws.
There's nothing quite like the blissful safe-haven feel to Switzerland is there? Last year, the Federal Court ruled tracking companies were not allowed to log IP addresses of file-sharers, making it virtually impossible to prosecute the casual P2P user. ®
COMMENTS
Plus 10 points for Switzerland
Law based on actually studying a case properly rather than give in blindly to lobby groups! That is real old-school, man!
It would be perfectly ok...
... if you could make an exact copy of food from the original food thus creating double the amount of food than existed previously.
In fact you'd probably win the Nobel prize.
infringment NOT theft
Please get your facts straight.
Copyright infringement is NOT theft. Theft is defined as depriving someone of an item, copyright infringement is making a copy without the permission of the creator/owner.
By claiming that downloading is theft you are showing that you are gullible and have been brainwashed by the media companies into thinking exactly what they want you to.
To claim that downloading a perfect digital COPY of a DVD/BD is theft is like saying that you are stealing the Mona Lisa if you download a high-res digital photo of it.
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