This law will be a complete waste of time as it will be extremely hard to enforce and control. If people make backups of their DVDs and/or CDs then they (obviously) already own rippers/decrypters/encoders etc. Are they going to physically check everyones PCs? No. Someone is trying to close the stable gate after the horse has bolted.

At the moment I'm backing up all my wife's amd my CD's to go onto our Ipod and Zen - that apparently would be illegal.

I copy films from Sky using a DVD recorder as we both work late and different hours so we can watch them at the weekend - will that be illegal? Someone made the very good point about the companies moaning about piracy are the ones who sell DVD recorders.

If this was actually enforceable then it would make me do the following:

1) Not buy anymore CDs - to be honest and maybe this is a sign of getting old but most new music is a pile of crap.

2) Wouldn't buy DVDs anymore just to make a point.

Both DVDs and CDs are overpriced and when was the last time you saw a decent film before it gets a Hollywood revamp and rips the soul out of it? I go to the cinema a lot anyway so no big deal there.

The solution to all of this is to bring down prices to sensible level. Is a CD really worh £15 or a DVD £20 - which are some of the ridiculous prices you see in the shops today?

We also need more and better download sites.

Crikey, we'd all better be careful because soon we might have to pick up books and start reading again!!

Cheers
S

Good luck to afterdawn.com - an excellent site. Can you still work on such a website but host it in another country?

Ambiguity and shady, backdoor dealing.

Yep, that's the EU and expecting anything better - anything above board - is overestimating the union's accountability. Private business interests control the EU.

I ask myself who is the biggest crook here: the pirate, or the unaccountable dictatorship destroying an entire continent? Whilst the European people are pushed from pillar to post, driven to their limit through a regime of bureaucratic bullshit, their continent is turned into the sweatshop of the west.

laws that purport to protect our rights actually erode and remove them, and no, it won't affect the people who pirate large quantities.

Another example of our elected leaders being accountable only to themselves - lest we forget where this mistake took us in the late 30's..instead of burning your history books they are lighting up your rights to free speech.

Oh No!!! This does not effect anything what I do.I will download all my CD's and DVD's from web as usual.

The movie industry reckons they are losing millions every year because of piracy. I don't believe it's anything like this. On the whole pirated DVDs are of a very poor quality, usually recorded by some clown with a camcorder. Most people who buy these wouldn't buy the original anyway, those that do will then go out and buy the original.
The movie industry also says that the proceeds from this go to fund other criminal activities; drugs etc. Where's the proof? DVD piracy isn't something that requires a large investment. A few hundred pounds or dollars buys a computer capable of doing it. Most of these guys are just trying to make a few quid so that they can have some kind of life.
If people can't make legal copies of their legally obtained DVDs or CDs then I guess they'll stop buying them. I only use my DVD burner for putting home videos onto disc so such legislation won't affect me anyway.

Every single independent retailer in my town has had to close down..no longer able to compete with large stores and very restrictive markets. Every single time films, games and music are sold at these stores the town nearby has one more nail rammed into its coffin. This town and countless like it used to be thriving; now it is a no-go area with a freeway running through the middle, carrying away the trade that would otherwise flourish.

The independents don't stand a chance, much like the budding, talented film makers who don't hold certain political and philosophical viewpoints..

Some piracy does fund illegal activity, I am of the opinion that most doesn't. I know where the biggest destructive element is, and it's not the person selling the dodgy cinema copy done with a camcorder. The internet has even stopped this to a certain extent.

The market for quality goods at reasonable prices is being controlled exclusively by the distributor and as such I view these distributors as a more destructive element. Even the music artists themselves are up in arms over the vast profits being made off their backs.

As consumers we have a choice: cheap rubbish so we can feed our kids or expensive, restricted rubbish feeding an overdraft facility..the EU doesn't give a damn, however the EU is very good at "harmonising" non-ethical business practice..

This is really sad, the corporations and goverments are slowly taking away our life's pleasures and futures.

I don't understand the stupidity of the bureaucrats, like there is nothing else for them to do. conquer hunger, raise the education level, stop terrorizim, crime, nope thats too hard, so they do the easy stuff like screw the populace. What needs to happen is for us to stop buying cd's dvd's for a month just to show the power that we as consumers have. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH but thats too easy.

I agree withh all here that the efforts of the big "entertainment" corps to force buyers into a spider web of restricted access and high prices is ultimately self damaging. However, as already mentioned by several members, consumers' dependence on a one to one relationship with the companies only encourages that behaviour. We can change the situation somewhat by adapting or spreading different ways of enjoying our entertainments. My friends and I have for many years simply been sharing the available purchased stuff and spending more time making our own music. It's fun and gratifying to watch DVDs together with friends; groups of people lend the same DVDs to other groups, therefore, although each person owns just a few DVDs the "friends" groups possesses a virtual archive. Why do we need to possess such vast numbers of things we only occasionaly use. Likewise with recordings. Of course this doesn't solve the problem with portable players, but at least it lessens our dependence. And making your own music and sharing it with friends is another aspect of socialising that has been lost or even stolen by the lifestyle the big corps advertising demons foist upon us. Much of what is recorded is grossly overhyped and normal people leading normal lives often get more out of all styles of music when they study and play it than when passively listening to some of the expensive mediocrity available. Thus if we lower demand in general, the prices may go down to a level reasonable for loading lots of music onto a portable player, but our real entertainment will come from socialising with music and film. We're social animals - not zoo specimens caged up for the big corporations' fancy.

OMG,( a sentiment that will probably also be illegal in the US soon.)

As a US citizen, I have always looked up to the supposed advanced thinking of the european community. I have also witnessed the americanization of your laws with a stupified look on my face.

From what I am reading, once your president signs this law it becomes more a religion than a law???? Is there no appeal process at all? Is there no hope of getting this incredibly vague piece of legislation stopped in court before it can be used to turn half your citizens into criminals?

I completely expected this from France and Germany, the puppetwhores of big business in europe, but I can't believe that the RIAA and MPAA have gotten such a hold on the worlds governments that even Finland is now going to be held in this copyright slavery that we americans are fighting at every turn. At least we have a huge court system, which at the very least keeps these organizations tied up at the state levels on almost every issue, and the supreme court has yet to make any "cover all" laws to stop this process. YET!!!! Even on P2P issues, after 10 years the RIAA is still having to fight at every turn to have it's ideas of fair use imposed.

I have been an avid reader of afterdawn for about a year now, having found it and used it's info and links extensively. It would be a shame if you guys were forced to close up shop due to the fact your government has sided with big business, despite public and also apparently a large political outcry against this law.

I think it is an excellent idea to stop buying these garbage CD's (I haven't bought a CD in over 5 years, I agree that the new music they force us to listen to is horrible anyway). I only rent DVD's and haven't been to a theater in 2 years (a choice made for boycott as well as crappy films being offered).

May God be with you afterdawn, because your existence is now very much an open question. Please don't bail on us without some form of a fight though. (If that is at all possible).

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

Ok...i TOTALLY agree with SDFUK post...but, lets do something about it.
Lets declare this Christmas a NO CD/DVD CHRISTMAS. Lets boycot them, send them a message. Let them choke on their Xmas piles of cd's and dvd's. Use your email contacts to send this message and get it rolling. Afterdawn, put it in your next newsletter. Lets start this campaign WORLDWIDE. FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

O.K. O.K. From now until after xmas I for one am not buying anymore cd's or dvd's as a protest. I will ask all my friends to do the same. But, what we need is an organized boycott. Led by a respected orginazation. Or at least by a lot of people and we need to get it out to all the general populace. Lets get to work.

What you all forgot to mention is that altho the politicians get elected with the help of all those big corporations making political contributions. We the taxpayers they suposidly represent, pay for it with our tax dollars. This doesn't stop there, because most if not all of those bastards get LIFETIME BENEFITS for them and their spouses after serving only one stint in the office. No I did not vote since the mid 80's because they are all the same they take these jobs not to public servents as its commonly miss represeted but to persue their own agendas. Why follow some one elses laws when you can help craft your own.

doctor = someone smart enough
lawyer = someone not smart enough to be a doctor
politician = someone not smart enough to be a lawyer
cop = someone not smart enough to be a politician but still craves power

keep the first and last
eliminate the rest

is there some way to organise a world wide protest that we as consumers could get an organised protest. its alright us on this forum saying how we feel , but the polatitions sre not reading these protests. lets kick som ase and someone with a better knowledge than me form a site that we can get them to listen to, lets get organised, before they bury us, get them to listen when the music industry said the humble tape would ruin them it didnt they are now doing the same thing but films are now also in the frame. as someone said earlyer the bigest majority of films are crap anyway, so maybe pirate films could play a part at least you would be able to see if the film was good or bad and at least only lose a couple of pounds instead of £20, i will admit in past I have done this but also have bought original as soon as availible as if you colect good films that is what you want, but it has saved me a lot of money on hyped films that were crap, but I suppose thats what they want us to buy movies they know are USLESS to keep themselves in work

It really doesn't matter what you do the record industry is going to clean up the dvd mess and put an end to the piracy eventualy. they will not have this mistake repeated with the new dvd hd format. in the end the record company will win as no one will ever stop buying dvds retail. What i don't understand is why doesn't the record companies offer a legal version that would allow a user to copy 2 copies of any css encoded disk, charge a anual or monthly fee for it which would cover royalties. i woulmd be happy with this just to not have to be forced to buy plastic snap cases and artwork i do not need.

They make money on the snap cases and artwork.

As long as there are brains out there, piracy will never be stopped. Anything you can encode will eventually be unencoded, no matter what format or media you use.

The RIAA and MPAA are just fighting a long protracted fight in order to get complete control of all media types and published artists work. Something that they claim to have already, but many courts and countries still disagree. They will no more win this battle than they did the vcr and betamax ones. Which by the way did not cripple their prcious profit margins like they said it would.

The scarey thing here is the total disregard of politicians for the voices of the people they claim to represent.

They can pass all the legislation they want,in countries like here in Mexico where the minimum wage is about 7 dlls a day and about 60% of the population is in this range you can bet they won`t stop piracy,do you think a policeman who gets paid about 100 dlls per week will care about it?

I'll tell you how much the politions care for us small folk. Here in the peoples republic of california they passed a law that prohibits us from defending ourselves if we have a home invasion. It states that we are to let the crooks have the house and we are to get out as best we can. The only way we can defend ourselves is if a life is in danger, then WE have to prove that our life was in danger, did I mention if we hurt the little bastard WE would be arrested first. The criminal well according to the politicos "the poor baby was hungry "UH" he was mistreated as a child etc etc."
So why should they care about our rights regarding backing up the cds & dvds we purchased legally.

Indeed I agree that most politicos are a bunch of gutless wonders that crave power for powers sake and to hell with the dumbs**ts that voted them in. The only thing they understand is when the masses show their anger and vote them out.

Ok.... NO CD/DVD Christmas... write an email and forward to all your contacts and tell them to pass it on. If you use Messenger, use "NO CD/DVD Christmas" as your name. People will ask you about it, and when you answer tell them its a set deal, that it is gonna happen, hype it up. I started circulating an email and asked for it to be passed on, be brief and polite in your email... c'mon Afterdawn, get behind this. Every fire starts with a spark. Lets do this. They did a NO PETROL MONDAY in Australia. That very same day, the companies dropped petrol prices by 14 cents! and it has stayed down since then. People power! Let them choke on their stocks of cd's and dvd's to be released for Xmas period.

I just went thru a divorce, lost 300 store bought music cd's and 350 store bought dvd movies, and I'll hold back buying any replacements! This really burns my a_s!! Maybe in a couple years, we'll see if big business is still power stroking us then!!! Really hate to lose afterdawn, my favorite website!! Afterdawn, hope you guys make it thru all this crap!!!

O.K. Lets kick butt!

these laws are obviouly directed at shutting down sites like AD.there is no way they plan on cracking down on the general population.half the country would be in jail.i do not know the policies of finland,but these laws are oppressive.and remeinesent of communist polices.there is obviously money involved.the entertainment world is putting some money in those politicians pockets.

a good idea is to get the word out about the EUCD. i dont think too many people know what they are trying to do with these new laws.try to get pc mags and news organizations to do a story on the EUCD.and have an eye-catcing title like "EUCD TRIES TO TAKE FREEDOM OF SPEECH AWAY".because here in america,nothing pisses people off more than the government infringing on peoples rights to freedom of speech.maybe get a petition started.

Like someone else said, I suggest people rely more on media that is not produced by the big corporations but instead independant media, street musicians, amature comics and online flash (or hand-drawn) animation, etc. Artists should be encouraged to release albums with "Community Commons Copyrights" on all the songs, alongside their "big professional hit" albums. Micropower (100 Watt or less) and On-Line radio stations should shy away from big commercially liscenced recordings and find and play more noncommercial stuff, too.

RoyLopEar,

I like it! We'd so more honest material being produced..free from the constraints (legal, financial and political), of working under the shadows of commercial interest.

Hmmmmmm, so who in Finland wants to sell me there Ipod for cheap because its basically useless now unless you break the law you criminals :-p