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German file-sharers now have less to worry about

15 August 2008 15:50 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 13 comments

Citing thousands of file-sharing violation investigations that will take too much of its time, the General Prosecutor�s Office of the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia has said they will no longer prosecute misdemeanor file-sharing and will instead only prosecute "commercial-scale" file-sharing.

In an interview with Jetzt.de, Axel Steel of the office says a "commercial file-sharer is someone who shares over �3,000 of material". He feels that songs are worth one euro a piece and movies are worth �15. That is exactly the way it should be, not $10,000 USD a song, or whatever the RIAA feels like charging per song.

Of course you are steal breaking the law if you pirate music but the Prosecutor�s office does not have the man power to prosecute the expected 50,000 violations for 2008.

The official then went on to compare marijuana to file sharing saying "both are very popular among youths...it is illegal to consume it, but people do it anyway, and the authorities can�t be bothered in frying smaller fish as it�s a waste of time and resources. Going after the big distributors is the way to go."

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Discuss this article!
diabolic (Newbie) 15 August 2008 16:23
This seems like a logical decision based on the amount of cases and the severity of the crime (piracy). The music industry will find a way to fight back and influence(pay off) judges. [ + quote]
subpopz (Newbie) 15 August 2008 16:27
*Quote:* He feels that songs are worth one euro a piece and movies are worth �15. That is exactly the way it should be, not $10,000 USD a song, or whatever the RIAA feels like charging per song. All I gotta say is.......finally!! The fact that the RIAA was charging whatever they wanted was a worse crime than that of sharing files. I'd love to see more countries adopt this. Let's see the RIAA sue little kids and grandmothers over $50. [ + quote]
DDR4life (Junior Member) 15 August 2008 16:44
*Quote:* *Quote:* He feels that songs are worth one euro a piece and movies are worth �15. That is exactly the way it should be, not $10,000 USD a song, or whatever the RIAA feels like charging per song. All I gotta say is.......finally!! I couldn't agree more. *Quote:* The fact that the RIAA was charging whatever they wanted was a worse crime than that of sharing files. I'd love to see more countries adopt this. Let's see the RIAA sue little kids and grandmothers over $50. lol. Can you imagine the riaa suing somebody not out of greed but on principle alone? [ + quote]
H08 (Member) 15 August 2008 17:48
lol [ + quote]
mododaz (Junior Member) 15 August 2008 18:18
Great news, i live in germany and NRW state [ + quote]
blueroad (Newbie) 15 August 2008 18:47
lol congrats germany just joined the free countries along with most of africa (they barely hav internet so whos monitoring piracy anyway :P) and all of the middle east . ill just call it WWP-the World Wide Piracy organization our motto is "stick a finger up their (the RIAA) /\$$**** and twist" see how they like it for a change.. [ + quote]
DXR88 (Senior Member) 15 August 2008 20:00
*Quote:* our motto is "stick a finger up their (the RIAA) /\$$**** and twist" a finger ain't worth the shit you'll pull out. now these combat boots here, they will do nicely. [ + quote]
DXR88 (Senior Member) 15 August 2008 20:02
Gut f�r Deutschland, jetzt wie �ber Amerika. [ + quote]
susieqbbb (Inactive) 16 August 2008 5:27
ha ha ha ha... I find this funny my sister just returned with her husband from germany and she noticed there where tons of stores selling illegal dvd's and movies she watched as users in internet cafe's downloaded music from e-mail accounts so even if you bust people using bittorrent and even p2p whats next you have to go after the e-mail service providers you open one issue another one happens [ + quote]
13thHouR (Inactive) 16 August 2008 6:37
And as it should be, a civil matter should not take president over more serious crime no matter how much cash the record and movie companies are using to bribe ppl. at least in Germany the law isn't made from sweeteners unlike the UK and USA that bend over at the beset of the media conglomerates. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 16 August 2008 6:38
sgriesch (Junior Member) 17 August 2008 14:04
*Quote:* He feels that songs are worth one euro a piece and movies are worth �15. That is exactly the way it should be, not $10,000 USD a song, or whatever the RIAA feels like charging per song. Finally pricing it for what it truely is worth. Not more than retail. Some would argue that it is not even worth that. A bigger effort should go towards people who actually sell it, not share it. [ + quote]
luckybleu (Newbie) 22 August 2008 19:31
I skip all the hassle and possible legal trouble I get my music For Free Legally on QTRAX its up and running in the U.S. with availability in Europe soon FREE LEGAL licensed p2p [ + quote]
hermes_vb (Senior Member) 23 August 2008 12:18
I download mine from rapid share. Can't beat that as far as privacy goes. [ + quote]