Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Swiss DMCA Quietly Adopted

Posted by Zonk on from the nothing-like-sleath-governing dept.

roady writes "We have seen a lot of talk over the years about the Canadian DMCA. But few know about the Swiss version recently adopted by law makers ... not even the Swiss people. The government and media have been very quiet, probably to avoid a referendum. Indeed, Switzerland is a direct democracy and if 50,000 citizens sign a referendum, the whole country will have a chance to vote against the new copyright law. In this version of the DMCA, sharing a file on P2P networks will land you one year in jail, even though the law mandates a levy on blank media. The history of the law is available online."

4 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. wth.... by Kwirl · · Score: 5, Funny

    quote:
    Switzerland is a direct democracy and if 50,000 citizens sign a referendum, the whole country will have a chance to vote

    how can america get one of these?

    1. Re:wth.... by pev · · Score: 2, Funny

      quote:
      Switzerland is a direct democracy and if 50,000 citizens sign a referendum, the whole country will have a chance to vote

      how can america get one of these? Well, you could invite Switzerland to send some of their reservists to spread freedom and democracy. It worked in Iraq so maybe it could work for you too?
  2. I've seen some swiss prisons by Martian_Kyo · · Score: 4, Funny

    they are not that bad really...
    if these kind of things go into action we'll have geek prisons. Where you'd have no contact with outside world, and you have to play games, and dnd whole day....it'd be like in your room...only your mom wouldn't nag on you all the time to go out and play in the sun.

    I am tempted to say 'sign me up'....

  3. Re:Can some Swiss citizens enlighten us by theolein · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's Swiss, in English, Suisse (the country) and Suisses (the people) in French, Schweiz (for the country) and Schweizer (for the people) in German, Svizzera (country) and Svizzeri (the people) in Italian and Svizra (country) and Svizers(people) in Rumantsch, you damn Amerikaner ;-)