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Switzerland Remains 'Extremely Attractive' For Pirate Sites, MPAA Says (torrentfreak.com)
While the European Union has worked hard to strengthen its copyright laws in recent years, one country in the heart of the continent chooses its own path. Switzerland is not part of the EU, which means that its policies deviate quite a bit from its neighbors. According to Hollywood, that's not helping creators. From a report: Responding to recent submission to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the MPAA has identified several foreign "trade barriers" around the world. In Hollywood's case, many of these are related to piracy. One of the countries that's highlighted, in rather harsh terms, is Switzerland. According to the MPAA, the country's copyright law is "wholly inadequate" which, among other things, makes it "extremely attractive" to host illegal sites. "Switzerland's copyright law is wholly inadequate, lacking crucial mechanisms needed for enforcement in the digital era," MPAA writes. [...] The European country has plans to update its laws, but the proposed changes are not significant improvements, Hollywood's trade group notes.
Switzerland, if MPAA is your worst enemy, I'd have to say you're doing it right. Godspeed.
According to Hollywood, that's not helping creators.
Since when were copyright laws about helping creators?
Switzerland hasn't implemented the draconian copyright laws that we suckered the US and Canada into by painting them as the biggest sources of piracy, so we're going to paint Swiss people with the same brush.
Even as a copyright holder myself, I recognize that copyright law in the United States is completely and utterly broken. Only in the United States could it make sense to have:
And if those media execs still think that HDCP is a good idea even after crazy mounds of evidence to the contrary, there's no way they'll *ever* be smart enough to realize just how stupid it is to waste time chasing after pirate sites. Stopping profit loss from piracy by going after pirate sites is the technological equivalent of trying to end world hunger by hiring fifty people to fly around the world, and, upon seeing a locust, land the plane, put on boots, and stomp it to death. You will never win that way. You will only look silly.
If the huge drop in piracy after the rise of the iTunes Music Store taught us anything, it is that piracy is not caused predominantly by people being unwilling to spend money, but rather predominantly by content owners refusing to take it, and doing everything in their power to maintain tight control in ways that consumers can't deal with. If you create content that people want and make it available in a form that people are willing to pay for, they will do so. If you don't, they'll pirate it. And no new laws will ever change that, no matter how draconian. At best, you'll just force it further underground, where you can't track it or earn ad revenue from it.
The cause of piracy problems isn't Switzerland, but rather the content distributors' unwillingness to work together to improve access to content, coupled with their irrational fear of allowing any single outlet to gain enough power to drive prices down to levels that consumers find reasonable. They need to quit looking for countries to blame and start looking in the mirror.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
The allegation is that Switzerland hasn't bent over and lubed up for the MAFIAA like other countries have.
No, not at all.
The methods Hollywood uses to guarantee there are no profits are the same methods used by Switzerland to guarantee there are no copyrights.
The one good thing to come from Trump. His harpooning of the various trade agreements which the MPAA had corrupted to their benefit are being systematically dismantled around the world, even the TPP which he pulled out of is now a much better agreement as with the US gone so too went all the insane copyright shit they were trying to force the rest of the world to swallow.
There's a huge difference between a lawless place, and a place with laws that are liberal with copyright. Switzerland is not the slightest bit lawless.
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Problem with USA happens to be the lobbiest controlling those that are elected. Its corruption at its finist, but made to be legal, just like the NCAA with their unpaid atheltic employees.
No, we adhere to copyright law. We just do not want to criminalize the entire population of our country for minor stuff and the legal system / prisons are non-profit.