File-Sharing For Personal Use Declared Legal In Portugal

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File-Sharing For Personal Use Declared Legal In Portugal

Posted by timothy on Thursday September 27, 2012 @04:17AM from the as-long-as-it-involves-kale dept.

New submitter M0j0_j0j0 writes "After receiving 2000 complaints regarding 'illegal file sharing' from ACAPOR regarding P2P networks, the Portuguese prosecutor refused to take the case into court on the premise that file sharing is not illegal in the territory if files are for personal and not commercial use. The court also stated that the complaints had, as sole evidence, the IP address of users, and that it is a wrong statement to assume an IP address is directly related to one individual. TorrentFreak has a piece in English with more details (original source in Portuguese)."

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A little bit of sanity... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-27 04:23 · Score: 5, Funny

...among a lot of insanity...let's just see what German...err, the EU has to say about that.
1. Re:A little bit of sanity... by fustakrakich · 2012-09-27 04:45 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Yep, even their drug policy is a bit more same than the rest of the world's, and it's paying off with less addiction.
  More file sharing will bring increased sales.
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
2. Re:A little bit of sanity... by crazycheetah · 2012-09-27 05:08 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  They proved it with the drug policy enough that the world AIDS organization (forgive me for forgetting the real name of that organization) decided to declare to the world that everyone needs to follow in suit, which they've only done prior to that in declaring AIDS is caused by HIV (because Russia was denying it). Of course, most countries have said fuck you to that.
  The question is if they're going to be able to prove that it's actually effective with file sharing, though. And then if anyone is going to give a shit that they proved it (I have a feeling the US in particular, unless a revolution happens, is going to deny any proof Portugal gives here).
3. Re:A little bit of sanity... by poity · 2012-09-27 05:28 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  It's easy to do because Portugal has little stake in copyright enforcement. Can anyone name a globally distributing film/music/software company from Portugal?
  
  --
  your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
4. Re:A little bit of sanity... by TheGratefulNet · 2012-09-27 05:39 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  your point (or, *a* point) is taken: since the country, there, is not a big producer of entertainment goods (at least not for export) - they could only be representing their people and not any one local industry. ie, this is what society is/was always meant to be about! the government sticking up for the peoples' rights and interests. even if some corp interests lose out, the people are what matters.
  USA: learn from this!
  (sigh. who am I kidding!? we'll never change. never. dammit.)
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
5. Re:A little bit of sanity... by mcgrew · 2012-09-27 05:49 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The question is if they're going to be able to prove that it's actually effective with file sharing, though
  Multiple studies have already proven it. One study, in fact, was commissioned by a book publisher wanting to find out how much money he was losing to piracy. Since unlike MP3s and movies, books don't hit the net for two or three weeks, the researchers looked for the pirates and then at sales figures. Rather than the expected drop in sales, there was a sales spike, do doubt caused by the "buzz" the pirate version caused.
  But don't expect that to sway anyone from the MAFIAA, though.
  
  --
  Free Martian Whores!
6. Re:A little bit of sanity... by SolitaryMan · 2012-09-27 08:22 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I don't think it is important whether or not it is good for business. What important is, if it *fair* and good for society.
  Sharing some hardware tools with your neighbor may be bad for hardware maker's business, but if somebody says it should be illegal, I'd say fuck you.
  
  --
  May Peace Prevail On Earth
U.S. law still applies by crazyjj · 2012-09-27 04:25 · Score: 5, Funny

Portuguese citizens need to be reminded that they're still under the jurisdiction of U.S. law, and WILL be extradited to the U.S. for breaking any IP laws!

--
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
1. Re:U.S. law still applies by ammorais · 2012-09-27 04:30 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Portugal actually have laws that even prevent an U.S. citizen from being extradited under certain circumstances.
  http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=pt-PT&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parlamento.pt%2FLegislacao%2FPaginas%2FConstituicaoRepublicaPortuguesa.aspx%23art33
2. Re:U.S. law still applies by hpacheco · 2012-09-27 04:31 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Portuguese citizens need to be reminded that they're still under the jurisdiction of U.S. law, and WILL be extradited to the U.S. for breaking any IP laws!
  there's no extradition agreement between the U.S. and Portugal
3. Re:U.S. law still applies by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-27 04:39 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Seriously, look at a map
  I did, there's only two places on it: The US, and US Drone Territory.
4. Re:U.S. law still applies by alendit · 2012-09-27 04:46 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Portuguese citizens need to be reminded that they're still under the jurisdiction of U.S. law, and WILL be extradited to the U.S. for breaking any IP laws!
  This post contains dangerous levels of sarcasm and thus required by Poe's Law to have at least a single emoticon (smiley). The poster may be considered himself warned.
5. Re:U.S. law still applies by c0d3g33k · 2012-09-27 04:49 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It's sarcasm, people. Whooosh!
6. Re:U.S. law still applies by dabadab · 2012-09-27 04:58 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Well, then you fall back to drones, I guess.
  
  --
  Real life is overrated.
7. Re:U.S. law still applies by jamstar7 · 2012-09-27 05:41 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Portuguese citizens need to be reminded that they're still under the jurisdiction of U.S. law, and WILL be extradited to the U.S. for breaking any IP laws!
  there's no extradition agreement between the U.S. and Portugal
  Didn't stop then from going after Noriega in Panama and it's not stopping them from going after Assange in Sweden and Dotcom in New Zealand. Does the term 'extraordinary rendition' ring a bell?
  
  --
  Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
8. Re:U.S. law still applies by Baloroth · 2012-09-27 05:59 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Those laws all look like pretty standard extradition terms, actually. Many countries forbid extradition if it might carry the death penalty, for example, only do it for serious crimes, and only do it for crimes they recognize as crimes.
  Which is not to say all countries always follow those laws (exceptions are made, for example, if they requesting country agrees not to pursue the death penalty in that case), but those are pretty standard extradition laws.
  
  --
  "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
9. Re:U.S. law still applies by Baloroth · 2012-09-27 06:04 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  First, they haven't gone after Assange in Sweden because he isn't in Sweden, and it would have made more sense to just do straight from the UK anyways since the US has a better treaty with them, and second, at least the latter two actually have extradition treaties with the US. Noriega was captured in a straight-up war (as a POW), and eventually extradited back to Panama (via France) to serve his sentence there. So, none of those were actually cases of "extraordinary rendition" at all.
  
  --
  "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
10. Re:U.S. law still applies by metacell · 2012-09-27 18:39 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I'm not sure the CIA will give a shit - they'll come in anyway, kidnap the people, and drop them off at the torture camps.
  That's preposterous. That's not at all how it works. The US government will make a diplomatic call to the local government, who will conveniently lose the prisoners or forget what the local law says, and THEN CIA will kidnap them and drop them off at torture camps.
  That's exactly what happened to two asylum seekers in Sweden, who were illegally handed over to the CIA by Swedish authorities and fell off the map.
Hey.. by wbr1 · 2012-09-27 04:35 · Score: 4, Funny

Anyone got a lead on good Portuguese proxy servers I can torrent through?
Want to help me set some up?

--
Silence is a state of mime.
Portugal.... by wbr1 · 2012-09-27 04:37 · Score: 4, Funny

Enabling pirates since ~1577. Thanks!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fernandez

--
Silence is a state of mime.
Re:Common sense and reason by Hatta · 2012-09-27 04:38 · Score: 5, Interesting

Also, possession of personal quantities of just about every drug has been decriminalized in Portugal, for about 10 years now. The result has been a decrease in drug use and all associated problems.

--
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
LOL @ ACAPOR by blind+biker · 2012-09-27 04:41 · Score: 3, Insightful

âoeWe are doing anything we can to alert the government to the very serious situation in the entertainment industryâ
I can't quite put my finger on it exactly, but for some reason that sentence made me LOL bigtime. Luckily no coffee was in my mouth at that moment, or I'd have ejected it explosively through several facial orifices.

--
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Re:In English by arielCo · 2012-09-27 04:45 · Score: 5, Insightful

No, I'm pretty sure that assaulting ships at sea and robbery in general is still punishable, even if you don't charge for your services.

--
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
Re:Common sense and reason by macbeth66 · 2012-09-27 04:48 · Score: 5, Insightful

And drug abuse has not gone up as a result. Just think of the money the country saves on not prosecuting these cases. A small island of sanity.
You just wait for craziness to ensue... by tibit · 2012-09-27 04:54 · Score: 3, Insightful

You just wait until various acronymous industry groups start blaming Portugal's "lax" IP laws on their financial problems. With entertainment revenue's bottom dropping out, as it does to an extent when people have little or no disposable income, we're bound to hear industry groups blaming it all on legalized file sharing. Sigh.

--
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Re:Common sense and reason by jamstar7 · 2012-09-27 05:03 · Score: 4, Funny

And drug abuse has not gone up as a result. Just think of the money the country saves on not prosecuting these cases. A small island of sanity.
Well, we can't have that. Cue 'discovery' of Al-Quaeda terrorist cells/terrorist training camps/oil/nuclear weapons programs/Julian Assange in Portugal in 5... 4... 3...

--
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
Drive it home by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-27 05:04 · Score: 5, Insightful

The result has been a decrease in drug use and all associated problems
I don't think you really drove the point home. What this literally means is that decriminalization of drugs results in:
- LESS crime
- LESS violence
- LESS injustice
- LESS corruption in government
In other words, decriminalization has the exact opposite result of what the government propaganda teaches us. That should immediately raise a red flag and cause a citizen to lose trust in government. The fact that drug use itself also goes down, rather than up, is just the icing on the cake. The reason drugs need to be decriminalized is not simply to lower drug use; it is for the much more critical reasons stated above.
1. Re:Drive it home by ZeroSumHappiness · 2012-09-27 05:27 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Hold on, one second.
  First, I'm assuming that "LESS crime" means less crime once you account for the fact that you're not prosecuting drug crimes. It would take a willfully ignorant misreading to screw that up.
  However, how do you measure "LESS injustice" and "LESS corruption" as a result of decriminalizing drug laws? Not that I don't believe you, just that I think those would be hard to measure as effects.
Re:Common sense and reason by ZeroSumHappiness · 2012-09-27 05:28 · Score: 4, Funny

Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 prize

FTFY.
Exactly by ThatsNotPudding · 2012-09-27 05:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

Also, possession of personal quantities of just about every drug has been decriminalized in Portugal, for about 10 years now. The result has been a decrease in drug use and all associated problems.

This is a closely-guarded secret held under wraps by the US government, corporate-owned media, Big Pharma, and most especially the sickening for-profit prison corporations. You as a US citizen will NEVER hear about this on the news. Bill Maher should open every show talking about Portugal and compare it US prison statistics.
Downloading = Legal, "making available" not so by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-27 05:54 · Score: 5, Informative

Portuguese with some legal background:
It has always been legal to own or acquire (download) unauthorized copies of most content. *
It's legal to make how many copies you want for your own use and to share with other people
within your "personal" sphere.
What is illegal is "making such content available to the public", emphasis on "public" as in
"general public".
What the A.G. clarified is that, in the particular case of BT and similar P2P protocols,
the act of seeding a file you are downloading, or did just download, enjoys the same treatment
as if you were downloading using a traditional protocol, i.e., benefits from the "personal use"
exception.
This does not mean you can happily run a public W4R3Z FTP server with impunity, but it does clarify
an important issue re: the law vs P2P downloads that had had no previous legal interpretation.
It has also brought about an interesting IP != person argument which will be interesting to follow up on,
in case of more serious offenses.
AC
* thanks to the lobbying efforts of the BSA-equivalent in the 90s, computer programs are dealt with differently
and enjoy no "personal use" rights.
Piracy vs. FileSharing by scarboni888 · 2012-09-27 06:32 · Score: 3

Piracy = making money off of other people's works = bad
File sharing != Piracy
Thank goodness the portugese legal system understands that as most of the rest of the world (Including Slashdot) seems to think those things are one and the same.