Halloween is traditionally a day for scary things and horrible tales. Well, apropos of this, the new Copyright Law for the United Kingdom takes effect today.

The full story is here http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5100441.html?tag=st_lh

From the article we read:
"A new copyright law designed to curb the unauthorized exchange of music, film and software on the Internet went into effect in Britain on Friday, reigniting the debate on the proper way to tackle rampant digital piracy.

The law, known as the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003, was drafted by the U.K.'s Patent Office. It is modeled on the controversial European Union Copyright Directive, broad legislation designed to protect content makers from the growing phenomenon of digital piracy that has ravaged media and software companies. "

Again, as we have seen with the DMCA here, these draconian laws are based on a European model. After looking at a number of these laws, provisions, treaties, etc., it seems to the CodeWarrior, that real freedom is being seen in Europe, like some pesky arthropod that needs to be stepped on, and stepped on hard.

Part of the underlying problem, is that not only do these copyright laws and measures seek to trample on digital consumer's rights, but they are confusing. In many ways, some of these things seem ad hoc, i.e. thrown together at the spur of the moment. For example, there is no clear standard on "fair use".

As the article so correctly points out :
"...In some countries, including Germany, consumers are permitted to make backup copies of a purchased CD, for example. In the United Kingdom, however, no such fair-use provision exists.

The EU directive failed to get member countries to agree on a single set of fair-use exceptions, setting the stage for a mishmash of laws governing how consumers can store and play media and software on their PCs or other digital devices.

"The national governments could never agree," said Mingorance, whose trade group represents tech companies such as Microsoft and Apple Computer."

If you try to put together an elephant by committee, you get something like a duckbill platypus, something seemingly neither fish nor fowl. As is going to be going on during the WIPO meeting in early November.

So, you get countries coming together who want to really get tough on alleged copyright infringers, as if they were guerilla terrorists. But, after they put together a wordy mish mash of ideas and penalties, what you mainly get is a confusing mess, a legal tower of babel with different people, in different languages, trying to
impose their ideas on the peoples of other cultures.

Yeah, Halloween is a day for scary costumes, fake blood, and candy. But, at the end of the day, you can take the mask off and wipe the blood off, and finish that last candy bar. It's gone the next day. But, the European Copyright Law, which is even more scary, is still there tomorrow.

Happy Halloween :)
~Code

I was hoping the ridiculous legislation of the DMCA would not transcend to other countries, unfortunately that wasn't the case. It certainly isn't good... perhaps now that the law has come into play even more individuals, worldwide will realize the futility and hackneyedness of these Copyright laws, and do something about it.

Well you know how big business works, control = power, no matter who gets hurt.

Draconian laws in Europe are good. They won't stand for it over there. Somebody somewhere will hit the streets and shed some blood. We used to have revolutions for this sort of thing. I hope it gets worse, because its going to have to get worse anyway, so the sooner the better.

Bring it on!

So I think what you are saying, Code, is that this British copyright law, like other copyright laws, are resembling the U.S. tax laws in complexity - only these copyright laws are probably more unfair (if that is possible).

Well, I guess we just need to keep highlighting to people we know that the laws upon which the RIAA and other content holders derive their power from are too unfair and too complex. The public needs to be aware of this, for the more unfair a law is, the more justification there will be for people to not follow it.

Attempts to bring the Anglo-American axis into subjugation by the Euro Globalization Empire,,even worse than US Taxes...which purport to have their reason for existence as the 16th Amendment, but others contest this.

Damn. Anyone got a Peerguardian blocklist for over here in the UK?

I guess the olnly other recourse would be the impossible task of trying to reson with the BPI.

That moves my website from the semi-legal region into the clearly illegal region. Intresting. Fortunatly I have a plan for this situation. A few minor tweaks, the replacement of local program mirrors with links to their websites, and the release of a 300 meg utilities pack on the hash-capable p2p networks, should see my site creep back into the grey

One of te excuses used to justify the EUCD was that without it the EU would become full of pirates produceing counterfit discs to ship over to the US

Us Europeans will tolerate the EUCD, because hardly anyone knows. I have *never* seen or heard of the EUCD offline. The media industry motto is "What they dont know cant hurt us.".

Using an unfair law to justify destoying lives is the worst idea since that time, all those years ago, when Mr Sherman said to his wife "Say, darling how about it tonight?"

Sorry 'bout the rudeness, but still.....