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New UK Law Criminalizes Copyright Violation

Posted by timothy on from the hi-guys-enjoy-the-handbasket dept.

pdh11 writes "The Register today details the introduction of a new UK law that makes 'communication to the public' of copyright material a criminal, not civil, offence; this means that, whether done deliberately or not, allowing a copyright infringer to copy something from your machine becomes illegal. Even if you morally equate copyright infringement with theft, this is like prosecuting me as an accessory to theft because I left my front door unlocked. How has this, or the EU directive it implements, become law without even debate, let alone outcry?"

2 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. RTFA, please by Hanji · · Score: 3, Informative
    Read the bloody article. It states that someone
    commits and offence if he knew or had reason to believe that copyright in the work would be infringed
    That's very different from saying that "Letting someone take copyrighted material accidentally is not a crime," as the poster seems to believe.
    --
    A Minesweeper clone that doesn't suck
  2. How it happened by amcguinn · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't think most people are conscious of the distinction between civil and criminal law. Among those that are, I suspect many thought that copyright infringement was criminal already.

    The classic example of the confusion between civil and criminal law was always the many signs on buildings which said "Trespassers will be prosecuted" -- despite the fact there was no criminal offense of trespass.

    (There is now a criminal offense of "Aggravated Trespass", but that doesn't apply often and it is a recent Michael-Howard era law anyway.)