James Delahunty
29 Mar 2006 15:32
While the change is condemned by consumer groups, the German justice minister has backed amendments to German law that could send Internet pirates who download illegally for personal use to jail for 2 years. In addition, anyone found to have profited from downloading can get a 5 year term. The minister, Brigitte Zypries, said that consumers are still allowed to make personal copies of legitimately bought DVDs. Oh how kind a lady she must be to allow customers of the movie industry to make backups of content they pay for.
German consumer groups were disgusted with the change, arguing that it sends a very wrong message and criminalises many consumers. Zypries said that people who download movies before their official release date are clearly breaking the law. The movie industry in Germany was lobbying for changes, blaming this form of piracy for falling sales in the country. It estimates that 20 million films are downloaded by Germans each year.
Critics however are quick to point out that falling cinema attendance and falling DVD sales are probably caused more by the falling quality of major Hollywood movie releases. 2 years is a very harsh sentence for people who download not for profit, especially when you consider there are much more serious crimes taking place in Germany right at this moment.
Source:
The Register