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Finnish authorities gear up for strikes against peer-to-peer file sharing networks IFPI Finland sends 28 requests for investigation by police over piracy In keeping with moves in several other countries, steps are now being taken by Finnish authorities to stamp out illegal distribution of copyright music material via the Internet. Suomen Ääni- ja kuvatallennetuottajat (ÄKT, the Finnish Branch of IFPI) have sent police requests for investigations of 28 individuals who they would like to see brought to justice for net piracy through the peer-to-peer file sharing networks. ÄKT wants prosecutions brought against persons who have been spreading music through file sharing applications such as BitTorrent, KaZaa, eDonkey, and eMule.
Contrary to fears expressed by some Finnish music lovers, the government’s bill for new copyright legislation that is currently before Parliament would not actually make it illegal to copy music onto MP3 players for personal use. However, if it is passed into law, it could set up a few obstacles. Under the proposed law, it would be permissible to copy music for personal use, but not to bypass copy protection for this purpose. Only a small percentage of CDs on the market at present are copy-protected, but the general expectation is that such protection is likely to spread. DVDs, which are increasingly being used also for music recordings, come with copy protection.
Kyrrä's incendiary comment translates into English as:"Now, we need to understand that listening to music on your computer is an extra privilege. Normally people listen to music on their car or through their home stereos... If you are a Linux or Mac user, you should consider purchasing a regular CD player."The irony, that Linux was developed by a Finn, in Finland, appears lost on IFPI Finland's spokesman. And who is credited with providing the first solid alternative to illegal downloading from P2P sites? A Mac user...
Protestors are calling for the law's opponents to be outside the Helsinki Parliament building at 13.00 Finnish time.Along with protestors, organisers want members of parliament and the media to come along to discuss the changed law.After initial confusion it appears the new law would punish consumers for making copies of media for personal use, if they bypassed DRM restrictions to do so. It has also emerged that Jukka Liedes, one of the officials behind the law, is a director of a subsidiary of Gramex - Finland's equivalent of the RIAA.Register reader Hannu Rajaniemi explained that lack of consumer rights is not the only problem with the law: "It also contains a section forbidding "organised debate" of DRM techniques and demands that ISPs obtain a license to make temporary copies of computer programs. There are also issues with playing DVDs under Linux as it usually involves libraries designed for DRM breaking."
Finnish Parliament approved today a controversial new copyright legislation, based on European Union's Copyright Directive (EUCD). The legislation sparked enormous opposition from worried citizens, but despite the public critique even in mainstream media, the parties currently in coalition government decided to approve the legislation without further modifications. Legislation has several confusing details and extremely badly worded chapters, making it one of the most draconian versions of EUCD in Europe. Once Finland's president (who has right to veto the law, but the right is used extremely rarely) approves the legislation, it will come into effect, typically within few months. As Finland has traditionally enjoyed quite relaxed copyright legislation, the change is dramatic. Previously, copying for own personal use (whether you owned the CD/DVD/book/whatever) was perfectly legal and the authors were compensated by blank media levy. Now, the blank media levy will remain in place, but at least the following things will change:Circumventing copy protections, even for personal use, will be illegal. (it states so in the law, even tho the government tried to argue that the right wont be pursued by government, but nothing stops record labels, movie studios, etc to do so)Distributing (even for free) tools (whether physical devices or software) that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. (this includes DVD rippers, tools that allow copying copy-protected CDs, etc)Advertising tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. (and the law doesn't state how advertising is determined. So, basically simply linking to a page that has DVD ripper downloads from your own site can be considered "advertising")Possession of tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. Even for personal use.Guides on how to circumvent copy protection mechanisms can be considered as "tools" and thus are also illegal.Worryingly, even "organized discussion" on how to circumvent copy protection mechanisms, will be illegal. (and no, Finland doesn't have similar to American Supreme Court that determines whether laws are against constitution, but when laws are approved, they by default are in harmony with constitution and can't be later overturned on basis that they are un-constitutional)Ironically, Finnish education minister, Ms. Tanja Karpela, argued that "only 1 percent of current music CDs include copy protection mechanisms", thus making the legislation invisible to users. However, she forgot to mention that virtually 100 percent of DVDs do have copy protection and therefor the former right to backup and copy DVDs will disappear. Also, by using at least some level of logic, one can assume that once breaking copy-protection mechanisms will be illegal, most new CDs will feature such mechanism.
A Finnish spoof of the sci-fi classic "Star Trek" has boldly gone where no feature film has gone before, relying on free distribution over the Internet to reach more than 450,000 viewers in less than a week. "Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning" is a full-length feature in Finnish with English subtitles. It was made over seven years by a group of students and other amateur film makers with a bare-bones budget and a few home computers to create elaborate special effects."We took a conscious decision not to go to the theatres as the movie was done mostly on a voluntary basis," said Timo Vuorensola, who directed the film. "Through the Internet and DVD it will probably get the widest possible viewership. We are hoping to reach one million downloads by the end of the year."
As part of the revision of the Copyright Act, Finnish legislation will be updated to take into account special issues related to the digital and network environment. The reform will enact nationally the changes required by the copyright directive of 2001. The amendments will mainly enter force on 1 January 2006. Some of the changes are: - Distributing files over the Internet without permission will be forbidden. Even if the distribution was not done with the intent to earn, actions that violate copyright can be punished as copyright crimes. - Copying by consumers for their own use will still be permitted. Downloading illicit material from the Internet will be prohibited. Making backup copies of computer programs will still be permitted as before. - Possible copy protection in recordings may not be circumvented for making a copy. - Obtaining user licences for mass use will be made easier by new licence agreement provisions. For instance, it will be possible to conclude an agreement with an organisation representing the copyright holders about the digital use of the material in teaching. - Distribution of material using information networks will be the exclusive right of copyright holders (they have the right to decide on the form and terms of use). The right to decide on 'on-demand' communication to the public will also be given to performing artists (musicians, actors, etc.), phonogram and film producers, radio and television companies and photographers. - A copy of a work acquired for private use, as well as copies of work in the collections of archives, libraries and museums, may be distributed further regardless of where it was obtained. Thus, the right to import audio records, books and comics from outside the EU for one's own use remains unchanged.
Finnish authorities recently developed new anti piracy laws which would allow record companies to place names of convicted file sharers in major newspapers, and then charge them for the ad. The cost to print the ads could exceed regular court fees or fines. The measure would only be decided on a case by case basis and not be part of the criminal case itself.
