Two, er, I mean, one other reason to move to Spain!
The Register – Friday 3rd November 2006:
A judge in the northern city of Santander in Spain dismissed a case against an anonymous 48-year-old man who shared digital music on the net.
Judge Paz Aldecoa of No. 3 Penal Court ruled that under Spanish law a person who downloads music for personal use can not be punished or branded a criminal. He called it “a practised behaviour where the aim is not to gain wealth but to obtain private copies”.
The ruling sent shockwaves through the music industry as the decision allows Spain’s 16 million internet users to swap music without being punished. Spanish recording industry federation Promusicae says it will appeal against the decision.
The state prosecutor’s office and two music distribution associations had sought a two year sentence against the man, who downloaded songs and then allegedly offered them on a CD through email and chat rooms. However, there was no direct proof he made money from selling the CDs.
Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopéz Aguilar says Spain is drafting a new law to abolish the existing right to private copies of material.
I guess we will have to liberate spain, yet again.
Yay!
DAMN now I have to move to Europe!
#1 – If the RIAA has the clout to get the US to invade Spain, then I’m done with being a good citizen. 😉
The Weather Underground 2.0 will be coming soon….
RIAA? It’s more literal written this way…
The Recording Industry Ass. of America
Just another reason why Spain is the coolest country in the world!
(P.S., I’m not Spanish, but I did live in Santander for a semester.)
Pfft! Turns on the definition of ‘personal use.’ The definition will be held to apply only to content purchased or time shifted by the user when an appeals court rules.
Am I the only one on this blog honest to actually buy my digital content?
@7: Yes you are 😀
As for moving into Spain… I’m already in Portugal so all I have to do is drive 50Km and I’m done!
I have bought a LOT of CDs after downloading a song or two by an artist I wasn’t familiar with. I tend to buy them from the artist’s own web site if I can, on the presumption that at least that way they’ll see some of the money I spend. And I avoid RIAA member companies because even the name is a lie – there’s nothing “of America” about that organization. Look at who owns the big dominant companies in that outfit – they are not US companies. Screw ’em.
“I have bought a LOT of CDs after downloading a song or two by an artist I wasn’t familiar with.”
Me too, I’ve bought CDs from Rich Creamy Paint, Puffy AmiYumi, Pizzicato Five, Jamiroquai, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Old 97s, the Hellacopters, and the Hives, just to name a few. How else would I have been exposed to those groups? The radio? Yeah right.
During Napster’s heyday, I was probably buying three CDs a month. Which is how many CDs I bought in the entire decade prior to Napster. Now that P2P had dried up I’m back to my pre-napster buying, nothing. It’s hard buying new music when you’re not exposed to new music.
Then it should be just as legal to download movies and software right?
“Then it should be just as legal to download movies and software right? “
Movies are a little different than music. People tend to listen to music they like over and over again, sometimes for decades. while movies you tend to watch once or twice. And downloading a couple songs to get a taste of what the entire CD is like is different from downloading the entire movie.
However, studios do allow us to download trailers to get a taste of the movie for free.
And I guess you’ve never heard of shareware, but software developers have been giving us “free” software to try out for decades.
It doesn’t matter what the studios or software vendors do. The judge said it’s legal even if the studio objects. By that logic, then downloading a copy of software for personal use is legal, as well as a movie, as well as a copy of Encyclopedia Britannica.
It doesn’t matter what the studios or software vendors do. The judge said it’s legal even if the studio objects. By that logic, then downloading a copy of software for personal use is legal, as well as a movie, as well as a copy of Encyclopedia Britannica.
No, it’s not. The judge was very specific ruling this only applies to music, not everything else.