The Poor Italians

[Pumba]

From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/20/italy_p2p_law/

Italy has made transferring content via the Internet without the permission of the copyright holder a criminal offence

The Italian parliament yesterday voted in favour of imposing jail sentences of up to three years on anyone caught uploading or downloading unauthorised copyright material to and from the Net.

The move comes in direct response to the rise of P2P services such as Kazaa and Gnutella, and was prompted by the country's film industry.

Until now, Italy's copyright laws, which date back to 1941, have focused on protecting copyright holders from those who seek to profit financially from the unauthorised duplication of content. The new law extends that to anyone who performs such an act, whether for financial gain or not.

In short, by sharing music for free, Italian P2Pers risk punishment almost as severe as if they had attempted to sell pirate CDs.

Those found guilty of the unauthorised distribution of copyright material now face a fine of between €154 and €1032 ($185-1240), a jail sentence of between six months and three years, the confiscation of their hardware and software, and the revelation of their misdeeds in Italy's two national newspapers, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera.

The law was passed by the Italian Senate despite the abstention of the Lista Prodi party and no votes from the Greens and Italian Communists. "The law is mistaken in method and merit," Green senator Fiorello Cortiana told La Repubblica today.

However, both opposition parties gained the Senate's agreement to re-consider the penalties the law imposes on violators.

 

[mbs]

Sick - they have not applied their minds properly, and don't know what they're doing. In the South African context, we must make absolutely sure that vested commercial interests don't reign supreme in matters of this nature...

 

[Perdition]

No worries there, contrary to popular belief our government doesn't give a rat's ass about the film and music industry in this country. They used to subsidise the film industry a fair amount but as a result of misappropriated funds within the industry (no surprise there) they dropped their support. The SA government will only step in when it is hurting them directly.

 

[ASnogarD]

If I am not mistaken it was illegal for me to make tape copies of music for myself rather than buying the original tape years ago, but the main problem is enforcing that law. Ditto in my opinion with Kazaa...you can make all the verbal laws you want, but you must be able to back them up.

Now I am not advocating people download all their music needs, I will listen to a few tracks of a CD on MP3 before parting with my cash to buy the CD. I have been caught with that group rocks I need the CD only to find its rubbish or a re-hash of old songs I already own.

 

[Perdition]

Correct, the consumer has a lot more information at their fingertips these days and I believe P2P to be an invaluable tool in ascertaining whether the purchase of a CD is warranted. Of course the music industry wants you to buy a CD with 2 good tracks and 10 crap ones, more profit for them. The reason Apple iTunes (and similar services) are doing so well is because it allows the consumer to purchase the tracks they want rather than an entire CD. P2P networks were the catalyst for this evolution in the music industry.