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Italy Approves Jail for P2P Users

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the well-bully-for-them dept.

funkdid writes "Italy has made transferring content via the Internet without the permission of the copyright holder a criminal offence.Those found guilty of the unauthorised distribution of copyright material now face a fine of between 154 and 1032 ($185-1240), a jail sentence of between six months and three years, the confiscation of their hardware and software, and the revelation of their misdeeds in Italy's two national newspapers, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera."

24 of 533 comments (clear)

  1. Email is copyrighted... by WigginX · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Can I still forward emails to Italy?

  2. At least the trains will run on time. by turambar386 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I guess the fascists are back in power these days?

    1. Re:At least the trains will run on time. by Lochin+Rabbar · · Score: 5, Informative

      My aren't you quick on the uptake.

    2. Re:At least the trains will run on time. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not the fascists, the capitalists. Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy is a huge media mogul! Of course he wants P2P to be illegal.

  3. Italian bootlegs by Vic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's interesting that this would happen in Italy. From my understanding (I'm not an expert in this), Italy has had very relaxed laws about bootlegged music, especially live recordings. That's why so many concert CDs come from Italy.

    Anyone care to comment on this or clear it up?

    Cheers,
    Vic

    1. Re:Italian bootlegs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Italy's prime minister is a high up executive of one of their major media conglomerates. Its a major conflict of interest. I believe the company has dealings with both music and owns the newspapers as well as some national television stations.

  4. I think it wrong to illegally copy... by EsbenMoseHansen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    .. but this is insane by any standard. Only the most extreme economic offenses should be punishable by imprisonment. Fines and compensation can do for the rest.

    --
    Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.
  5. over reaction by Suburbanpride · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think speeding is a lot worse than sharing files. whats the fine for speeding in italy? i bet its a lot less than $1000 and 6 months in prison. extreme penalties will only drive the shares underground it wont stop them.

    --
    sorry 'bout the mess...
  6. GPL violations? by j-beda · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Since the GPL is a copyright lisence - does this mean that if somone violated the GPL in Italy it could get them thrown in jail?

    And people complain that they are afraid of the viral nature of the GPL - this would really scare them!

  7. But officer... by Nuclear+Elephant · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Italian parliament yesterday voted in favour of imposing jail sentences of up to three years on anyone caught uploading or downloading unauthorised copyright material to and from the Net.

    People don't download pirated music, computers download pirated music. Everybody calm down, unless you're routing packets by hand, you're safe.

  8. I guess you expect that... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...with a Prime Minister who makes his money from media companies. Those corrupt Italians! Imagine something like that happened in the US. If the President or Vice President stood to make money from invading Iraq, say, there'd be a hue and cry about it and they'd have no chance of getting away with it.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  9. Welcome Italy! by kannibal_klown · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Finally!!!

    Don't get me wrong, I think this is complete BS and wrong on soooooo many levels...

    But it's nice to know that America isn't the biggest (or the only) a$$-hat when it comes to p2p. Up until now, we've looked draconian in our handling of such matters compared to other parts of the world.

    This makes what the RIAA is doing look like a slap on the wrist. Hopefully they don't get any ideas.

  10. Enforce it. by blamanj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. -- Abraham Lincoln

    If this law is really so draconian as the discription implies (this is /. after all), then I'd go looking for an intelligent, like-minded DA (or whatever the Italian equivalent is) and have him start arresting people left and right for the slightest violation, as long as it meets the letter of the law.

    I guarantee we'd here the angry screams all the way to N. America and it would be dropped pretty darn fast, I'll bet.

    1. Re:Enforce it. by cheeseSource · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You would think so, but look at drug enforcement in the U.S. Incarceration is at an all time high. In general there are more people in prision in the U.S. per capita than anywhere else in the world; but guess what...

      Nothing has changed.

      --
      (Sponsored by cheeseSource for President 2012)
    2. Re:Enforce it. by geek · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is because felons can't vote. If they could then change would be possible, but by arresting and convicting people, thus taking away their constiutional rights you handicap them. If convicted unjustly, or if said law is repealed you are still a felon unable to vote. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book and is why a huge part of the black community is left as a permanent under class unable to effect change.

  11. The Need for Effective Anonymous P2P by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm worried about how the international community is going to react to this law; I could easily see the XXAA's performing "research studies" that show that this form of legislation is effective and desirable, and should be used elsewhere.

    As I see it, one of the most effective ways to counter this is to use once again raise the technological bar of P2P technologies. A system where the user does not know or control what content is stored on their PC (a la Freenet) would eliminate the ability of the legal system to charge an individual for distribution. In order for this to occur, anonymous software systems need to be made more effective and easier to use for the average user.

    I'm sure many people will suggest that I just want to make sure things are easy to steal. The honest answer is that I don't; the same technology used to ensure illicit communications are caught could just as easily be used against legal but undesirable communications. The increased availability of raw information has revolutionized our society (just look at the Abu Gharaib scandal; that could not have happened a decade ago), and any attempts to restrict that movement must be opposed or countered.

  12. I guess its time.... by AlexanderYoshi · · Score: 5, Funny
    I guess its time to tell my brother he has to delete all of that Italian porn from his computer, unless he can find those girl's written consent ;)

    -Alex

  13. Re:Publishing v. private communications by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    now companies will copyright information about their wrong doings.

    and when people "publish" it in an expose, they get to go to jail.

    watch...it'll happen.

  14. Re:RIAA Attacks Single Mom by Greedo · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Here's a quote from that article (emphasis added):
    The record companies follow the songs when they're downloaded onto computers, and they also note how many copyrighted songs are stored on that computer's hard drive memory, because those songs are often "uploaded" or shared with others through the file-sharing service.
    How, exactly does one "follow the songs" once they're downloaded? The only thing that comes to mind is that the RIAA must be offering the files for download. Then, when little Cassandra downloads the song, the RIAA has her IP, and can browse what she has on offer.

    IANAL, but isn't that a form of entrapment? And isn't that ... uh, like ... bad? Especially if you are entrapping a minor?

    --
    Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
  15. Re:Publishing v. private communications by Fulkkari · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The article states earlier:

    The Italian parliament yesterday voted in favour of imposing jail sentences of up to three years on anyone caught uploading or downloading unauthorised copyright material to and from the Net.

    In my eyes it looks like you get to prison by using Google cache or similar. Am I wrong?

    Besides, how do you know if the copyrightholder have allowed you to download the content? Hell. It would even be dangerous to download "terms of service", because it is copyrighted.

    This thing is not going to work out very well.

    --
    I demand the Cone of Silence!
  16. Re:Publishing v. private communications by br0ck · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm going to change my name to a copyrighted haiku. Then the two Italian newspapers won't be able to publish my name online without facing criminal charges themselves. ;)

  17. We draw lines with precedents by yintercept · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Where do we draw lines between manslaughter and murder?

    There are no perfectly clean lines in life. Trying to demand that we have perfectly clean laws before we can exist is absurd. To a large extent, everything depends on intent.

    If I dropped a piano from a fifth floor window and if falls on a passerby, that is manslaughter. If I wait for the ex to walk by, aim and cut the cord...it is murder. The difference between the two has very little to do with either the shape of the piano or the laws of gravity. The difference is intent, and we need courts to decide on intent. Generally intent is clear. Pointing a gun at a person and pulling a trigger is generally a good sign of intent of murder (but it could just mean stupidity). Under cooking eggs benedict and causing a person to die from food poisoning is more indicative of manslaughter, but if the courts find out I purposefully cultured salmonella for the eggs...then I am a murderer.

    Emailing copies of an ebook to friends (so they won't have to pay for the book), there is clear intent on doing the copyright holder wrong.

  18. Shows what you know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think speeding is a lot worse than sharing files

    This is because you don't see the big picture. Speeding just kills or injures a few people now and then. File sharing, however, prevents the very rich from continuing to become a lot richer, which is clearly a much more evil offense.

  19. Since this is Italy... by Simonetta · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Since this is Italy, I assume this law only really applies to downloading materials that come from companies that Berlusconi owns a controlling interest in.

    Which, since this is Italy, is practically everything.

    Speaking on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Italian P2P users, what are Italian jails like?
    Are they sex torture rape factories like American prisons? Are they government profit centers like Mexican prisons (where you have to buy your own food)? If you download really big files and get the death penality, do they charge your family 50 cents like the Chinese do? Are they just 'work the zeks until they drop' slave-labor camps like the Soviet Gulags?

    Come on, Italian politicians, you passed a law to put tens of thousands of your own young people in prison for activities that few civilized people consider to be a crime. Now that you have your 'law', what are you going to do with it?