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DMCA-Alikes Sweep Europe

Posted by timothy on from the heavy-linkage-send-help dept.

D4C5CE writes "The number of European countries enacting their ignorance of the sad experiences from Four Years under the DMCA has just risen to 5, as the Upper House (Bundesrat, incidentally) of the German Parliament on Friday failed to veto (sorry, some press releases are only available in heavily spin-doctored German Legalese at this point in time) and is hence considered to have consented to the adoption by the Lower House (Bundestag) of a federal law implementing the dreaded DMCA's European sibling known as EU Copyright Directive 2001/29/EC." Read on for more on the copyright laws being considered around the EU.

D4C5CE continues: "Earlier implementations have been reported from Austria, Denmark, Greece and Italy.
Legal scholars consider the directive itself an invalid "monstrosity", and the German law unconstitutional. In fact, this legislation is viewed as so terribly awful that even from the U.S., the EFF tried to prevent it in a rare intervention overseas.

Declaring that the circumvention rather than the use of Copy Protection is a Crime, the German parliament threatens to make things even worse by adopting a "second stage" with further steps to impose DRM and additional levies later this year, but unsurprisingly, all of the issues that DMCA-style laws have become notorious for are already there: Overbreadth, overprotection of technical measures, and Chilling Effects aplenty.

Record companies eagerly awaiting this "lex Bertelsmann" have already caused ISPs to send out warning letters to P2P users for alleged copyright infringement, and are expected to take legal action against individual users of file-sharing networks, following in the footsteps of RIAA.

Confirming the fears expressed by Alan Cox on Slashdot, computer gurus will soon find no place left to go even on the European side of the pond, and the Free-X "Independence Day" XBox exploit posted by one brave German just in time before this dismal day may well have been one of the very last legal disclosures in this part of the world as well."

8 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. I'm sorry but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    The movie can't be that good.

  2. Re:Early bird GNAA post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Jesus was a Negro!

    Praise be to the Negro Jesus.

  3. Re:Lack of coverage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Yeah, I'm sure you are covered in "secret sauce." It's queer-ass niggers like you that make Jesus hate us. I hope you die soon, so you can reap the punishment you so richly deserve.

  4. Re:Finally, protection for my work. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    my product


    Are you referring to your smelly, filthy asshole? I'm sure your fagot-fellow-Americans love it, but how could anybody copy it?
  5. aaaaaaggggghhhhhhhh... how many links???????? by jkrise · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I guess /. must've put up this article and simply rejected posts for about 1 hour. That's about how long it should take to read through these links... Bah.. maybe the editors are resigned to the fact that no one bothers clicking these links before posting??

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  6. Re:Lack of coverage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Get AIDS and die, you sodomite!

  7. I want to join. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    And when I mean "join" I'd like to slide my Negro phallus in some tight asshole. Where do I sign up?

  8. Re:Finally, protection for my work. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I'm sure your fagot-fellow-Americans love it

    My fellow Americans are a bundle of sticks? Wha?