Jared Moya
December 6th, 2005, 08:37 PM
Creating your own compilations from a CD; extracting your favourite track to listen to it on your computer; transferring it onto an mp3 player; lending a CD to a friend; reading a DVD with free software or duplicating it to be able to enjoy it at home and in your country house - common practices, at the moment perfectly legal in France.
But the French government plans to forbid them all. In fact, the Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society Bill - DADVSI (n°1206 in the French legal code) - currently making its way through the French National Assembly, is worrying a number of groups in France, from p2p users to webcasters and free software designers.
They’re particularly concerned that the French government seems to be trying to force it through in a hurry, with the crucial vote probably slated for December 23, the day before Christmas is celebrated in France and a day most legislators are expected to absent themselves.
In addition to killing off the right to private copying, the DADVSI bill would also make the simple act of reading a DVD with software that's not authorized by the DVD editor punishable with up to a three-year jail sentence and a fine of 300,000 euros. Such a scenario would be considered an instance of copyright infringement.
The act of converting to mp3 format a "protected [proprietary]" file downloaded from the FNAC website [FNAC is a major book and media retail concern] is also considered infringement, as is the publishing of technical information (such as source code) allowing or making it easier to perform such conversions. In this way, the DADVSI bill prohibits the design, distribution and use of free software that would allow accessing protected work. If the bill is approved in its present state, it'll be illegal to use software such VLC or any other multimedia player using the DeCSS algorithm, which will be forbidden.
Read the complete article (http://p2pnet.net/story/7227/)
But the French government plans to forbid them all. In fact, the Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society Bill - DADVSI (n°1206 in the French legal code) - currently making its way through the French National Assembly, is worrying a number of groups in France, from p2p users to webcasters and free software designers.
They’re particularly concerned that the French government seems to be trying to force it through in a hurry, with the crucial vote probably slated for December 23, the day before Christmas is celebrated in France and a day most legislators are expected to absent themselves.
In addition to killing off the right to private copying, the DADVSI bill would also make the simple act of reading a DVD with software that's not authorized by the DVD editor punishable with up to a three-year jail sentence and a fine of 300,000 euros. Such a scenario would be considered an instance of copyright infringement.
The act of converting to mp3 format a "protected [proprietary]" file downloaded from the FNAC website [FNAC is a major book and media retail concern] is also considered infringement, as is the publishing of technical information (such as source code) allowing or making it easier to perform such conversions. In this way, the DADVSI bill prohibits the design, distribution and use of free software that would allow accessing protected work. If the bill is approved in its present state, it'll be illegal to use software such VLC or any other multimedia player using the DeCSS algorithm, which will be forbidden.
Read the complete article (http://p2pnet.net/story/7227/)