Germany: Download movie and get to prison
Germans risk two years in prison if they illegally download films and music for private use under a new law agreed yesterday. Anybody who downloads films for commercial use could be jailed for up to five years. The measures, some of the toughest in Europe, were announced after an aggressive campaign by the film industry in Germany, the largest market in the EU and one of the most computer-literate populations. According to film industry estimates, Germans download more than 20 million films a year. Many expect the next James Bond film, Casino Royale, to be widely available in Germany weeks before its official release in November (eh, people outside USA are used to this, aren’t they 
).
The law, which comes into effect on January 1, 2007, has infuriated consumer groups. They claim that it will turn consumers into criminals and harm the Government’s efforts to create a knowledge-based economy. Patrick von Braunmühl, of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations, said: “It can’t be that everyone has to be worried now about the police knocking on the door and impounding the family computer because their 16-year-old son has downloaded a few songs.â€? German branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimates that the equivalent of 439 million music CDs were copied illegally in Germany last year. Finally, similar law came into effect in Sweden before few months, and as fair as I know, it really had some effect on the people downloading warez off the internet. German users are known to prefer eMule and BitTorrent, which are quite easy-to-track, anyway, there’re still some relativelly secure ways to get new stuff…
Source: TimesÂ
Comments(13)
Use newsgroups you krauts!
yeah, that’s also the possibility, although MPAA and other organizations are putting more and more attention to the usenet…
Well, that’s no problem at all. They can’t trace anybody so who cares that they know what’s on the newsgroups? They can’t catch anybody so it’ll keep working even with the officials monitoring the newsgroups.
yup, unless the people who post new stuff get too scared of MPAA and stop this job… but I dont think this will happen in near future
This will NEVER happen. The official groups stay there untill they don’t want to do what their doing anymore. But by then a new group will have formed to replace them. Anyone remember Fairlight? Well they’ve been gone for many years now but do we still get our games threw the newsgroups? Hell yes, new groups like Reloaded keep it alive.
Well i was thinking more about people who post it on newsgroup, not about release groups – it’s sure thing that they will not stop it and when they do, someone else will rise to take their place. But these “uploaders” may become to feel a bit in a danger after some serious media pressure…
Two years for private use downloads?
Are they mental…… or do they just have really big prisons?
I thought the MPAA were bad.
Where the hell is all this going to end?
The only reason I download movies is that 99% of them aren’t worth paying for.
The other 1% I buy on DVD.
They’ll never get more cash from me just by wiping out filesharing…….. the BaStArDs!!!
crazy crazy crazy
i think this is just to scare off the casual downloader, nothing really would happen to the average consumer, on the other hand, release groups might be their target.
i think this is bullshit i dont think 5 years in jail for dowloading a movie cause that dosent make sence
comon ,you all know this is bullshit ,if you have a pussy you stop downloadin immidiatly .
in holland about 2 years is a armed robbary.and btw who will pay for all these kids in prison …. the tax payer.
————————-
—–keep Dreaming—–
————————-
1) if the “wankers” will put everybody in prison 4 downloading bla bla…then they would have to build a big…big…big prison = will Never happend.
2) If someone goes away…there WILL allways be another 2 take its place….
3)users are known to prefer eMule and BitTorrent, which are quite easy-to-track…..my god …there is allready progzz that is so effective..that they cant 1)see U…2) track U…osv…so..when they stop a program ..there is allready another program w8ing
SO i heard……
Very good site! I like it! Thanks!
SO horrible.