Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> EC leaves personal use out of criminal IP laws
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Arguments over the definition of what constitutes "commercial
> | scale" infringement have been drawn out and complicated.
> | Eventually, the committee agreed to leave copying for personal
> | use uncriminalised. It states that to be criminal an infringement
> | must be "a deliberate and conscious infringement of the
> | intellectual property right for the purpose of obtaining commercial
> | advantage".
> |
> | Lobby groups for rights holders are unsurprisingly unhappy with
> | this clause. But the Business Software Alliance says it is also
> | unhappy with the "incitement to infringe" clause. This might give
> | Microsoft's execuitives pause for thought.
> `----
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/22/ec_ip_incite/
Lately, the issues of protecting intellectual property have been
heading toward ridiculous. Most of these measures seem to do more
irritation and inconvenience to the law abiding citizen than
circumvent illegal copying by those who have no respect for the law.
An example of this is illustrated in:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/20/1723257
| Store Says DRM Causes 3 of 4 Support Calls
| Posted by kdawson on Tuesday March 20, @02:07PM
| Carter writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Musicload, one of
| Europe's largest movie stores, has found that 75% of its customer
| support problems are caused by DRM. Users have frequent
| problems using the music that they have purchased, which has led
| Musicload to try selling independent label music without DRM.
| Artists choosing to abandon DRM in favor of good old-fashioned
| MP3 have seen 40% growth in sales since December. Good to see
| someone in the business both 'gets it' and is willing to do
something
| about it."
Measures against software piracy should occur with least convenience
to the law abiding citizen. It should basically be transparent. It
also should be fair. It should respect one's right to privacy.
This is a reason why I favor the Linux operating system. For example
in Ubuntu, it notifies me when updates are available. However, it
doesn't indiscriminately "phone home" with my hardware and other
software I have installed, nor continuously check my system with "net
nanny" licensing tactics. I am assured of my privacy.
--
HPT
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