* on the Fri, Sep 26, 2003 at 07:28:54AM +0200, Alexander Koch wrote: > If I am not utterly mistaken whether a personal copy is > allowed or not is not taken into account when this personal > copy is actively offered through a p2p network. At the point > any copy is offered it's automatically not a personal copy > any longer...
Actually, the use of P2P-tools or whatsoever for downloading music and movies is perfectly legal; this was recently affirmed by a swiss court. Even if this content is offered illegally. However, offering said content yourself _is_ illegal, even if you own the original. You may, though, give copies of it to friends or relatives of yours (fair use directive), as long as this remains withing reasonable borders (giving it to 3 or 4 friends is ok, giving it to 20 is not). But sharing content to which you're not entitled to through P2P to possibly thousands of others is _not_ fair use. Note that this has nothing to do with the "personal copy". That "personal copy" is only for software, and only for software you're entitled to (e.g. have a license). But speaking of that claim the movie-industry makes here: It may well be that this user is sharing content illegally. However, this is not of interest to the ISP. If the movie-industry wants to take action against this user, it has to take this to the police, and a judge will sign a letter to the ISP, telling the ISP to disclose the identity of the user. Without a juridical order, the ISP _may not_ disclose customer-data. And certainly not to a US-company which does not adhere to the rigid privacy-protection-laws we have here. Cheers Seegras -- Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -- Benjamin Franklin ---------------------------------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Maillist-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/swinog%40swinog.ch/
