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Finland Is Crowdsourcing Its New Copyright Law

Posted by samzenpus on from the power-to-the-people dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Internet activists in Finland, upset with the country's strict copyright laws, are ready to take advantage of the country's promise to vote on any citizen-proposed bill that reaches 50,000 signatures. Digital rights group Common Sense in Copyright has proposed sweeping changes to Finland's Lex Karpela, a 2006 amendment to the Finnish copyright law that more firmly criminalized digital piracy. Under it, 'countless youngsters have been found guilty of copyright crimes and sentenced to pay thousands, in some cases hundreds of thousands, of euros in punitive damages to the copyright organizations.' The proposal to fix copyright is the best-rated and most-commented petition on the Open Ministry site."

4 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Brown Trousers Time by Apotekaren · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As for the watering down, if the proposal (a complete law text) passes the 50,000 vote mark, the Finnish parliament has to vote on it AS IS.

    --
    She: Hey, are you a traitor? Me: No, I'm atheist.
  2. Re:What if they "fix" it in an incompatible way? by c0lo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They can fix and improve and change as much as they want. The moment it is out and the US doesnt like it, starts accusing Finland of "theft" and threatens painful trade sanctions, they will have to revert it back or face consequences more severe than putting up with the current copyright.

    Copyright is simply too valuable for the few influential stakeholders to be allowed to be decided democratically.

    What more US can do that has not already done to Finland? I mean, look... isn't enough they pushed Elop as the Nokia head? (grin: it's Obama's fault, isn't it?)

    With a AAA credit rating, the only nasty thing would scare the Finnish people would be the Russian to cut their gas (100% dependence on Russia).

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  3. Re:Brown Trousers Time by Pecisk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    International treaties is the key. Why do you think all copyright legislation has started as treaties? Because no voter in sane mind would force such law upon it's country. But voter doesn't understand, doesn't bother him - at least it's regular thinking of politicians these days. So they agree to treaty, then just come home and say "we done anything we could, but this must be a law now".

    --
    user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
  4. Re:Expect Astroturfers by the thousands... by Apotekaren · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A voter must register and identify themself via their online banking, and they double-check this against the records in the magistrate.

    Also, the text for the legislation is now finalized, and only accepting "up-votes" towards the 50 limit. Nothing you can do to astroturf that.

    --
    She: Hey, are you a traitor? Me: No, I'm atheist.