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Swiss Gov't: Downloading Movies and Music Will Stay Legal
wasimkadak writes "One in three people in Switzerland download unauthorized music, movies and games from the Internet, and — since last year — the government has been wondering what to do about it. This week their response was published, and it was crystal clear. Not only will downloading for personal use stay completely legal, but the copyright holders won't suffer because of it, since people eventually spend the money saved on entertainment products."
Also they pay 'copyright tax' on every blank media, hdd and ssd sold that get redistributed to registered artists.
A government that makes a common sense. Time to move to Swiss
"Swiss" is an adjective. "Switzerland" is the country.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I only have 1 anecdote, but for sure I would not spend money on buying TV series on DVD if I didn't download some of the series first.
I have spent hundreds on TV series in the past 4 years that was only spent because I could preview the show via download.
I had never spent a dime on a DVD and didn't intend to until I started downloading.
So for some people at least, the industry don't lose one red cent of money from downloading, but instead makes money it would have never made if downloading didn't exist.
Wax on, wax off baby!
I'm a Swiss citizen and I can confirm that while downloading is legal, uploading is technically illegal. On the other hand, mass-discovery methods to detect uploaders ARE illegal here as well, and there are no political intentions to criminalize copyright laws. Switzerland is a direct democracy, meaning that any new law that is passed may be challenged by the people by collecting at least 100K signatures (that's about 1.5% of the population) against it.
About two years ago, one of the three judges of our Supreme Court made it clear in an interview that he was personally against going after people for "personal copyright infringement", stating that when the majority of the people is found to be infringing some law, that law was likely to be biased against the general interest.
How do they reach that conclusion?
Maybe if you read the fucking article you wouldn't have to guess.
In summary "The report states that around a third of Swiss citizens over 15 years old download pirated music, movies and games from the Internet. However, these people don't spend less money as a result because the budgets they reserve for entertainment are fairly constant. This means that downloading is mostly complementary."
They actually did surveys and have figures to back that up. But don't let facts get in the way when they go against your preconceptions.
Do note that Swiss pay a hefty copying levy. In particular, we pay a fee on the amount of memory in smart phones, iPods, MP3 players, and the like. This fee is supposed to be compensation for the copying that goes on. Since we've paid for it, it is really only fair that we are allowed to copy.
Also note: while downloading is legal, uploading is not.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.