My personal thoughts about the new copyright law

27 Dec 2005 1:17 (Edited: 27 Dec 2005 1:17)

As most of our regular users already know, Finland has adopted a new copyright legislation that will come in force on 1st of January, 2006. The new copyright legislation has been adopted to comply with European Union Copyright Directive, which was approved by European Parliament and European Commission back in 2001. Most of the other EU countries have already adopted the directive to their local legislations, Finland being one of the last countries which hadn't done so yet.

The Directive makes it very clear that each member of the Union has to make it illegal to distribute, manufacture, sell and advertise tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms. The directive doesn't state how effective or strong the protection has to be in order to be covered by the legislation, so basically the directive states that text which is written backwards can be considered a copy protected text and people can't provide tools to circumvent it. However, the directive leaves breathing room for each country to consider their own special needs -- part which Finnish parliament failed to consider, IMO. Additionally, Finnish parliament decided to make distribution of services and tools aimed to circumvent copy protection punishable upto 1 year in prison, which is the minimum punishment that provides police rights for full search warrant in suspects home, office, etc.

Most idiotic thing about the law is the fact that Finland has enjoyed one of the most relaxed copyright laws in Western World for ages. In Finland it has been legal to copy CDs and DVDs, even those borrowed from local library or from your friends, for personal use. Additionally, copying a copy of a CD or DVD (or book, etc) has been perfectly legal. This right has been compensated to copyright owners via blank media levy, sorta copyright tax added on blank CDs, blank cassettes, blank DVDRs, etc. Blank DVDR costs about 3 times the price that it costs in countries without levy, such as UK. People have accepted that levy quite widely, as they have understood that it compensates for their extended rights.

Now, the new copyright legislation makes it illegal to provide guides and software to circumvent copy protections, like CSS found on virtually all commercial DVD-Video discs. This effectively means that copying DVDs is considered to be illegal. Despite this, the blank media levy remains on blank DVDRs, CDs, etc. Same applies for copy-protected CDs -- two days after Finnish parliament approved the new law, Sony BMG Finland announced that all of their upcoming audio CDs released in 2006 and onwards, will contain some form of copy protection, thus making it illegal to copy them, even for personal use. And the blank media levy still remains on blank CDRs, portable MP3 players (its typically 25 euros per player), etc. And the most absurd fact is that the law was justified on grounds that only 2% of available audio CDs are currently copy-protected -- and MPs didn't even ask from media industry whether that ratio will stay the same if the law is passed. Well, now we know.. And DVDs weren't even mentioned in the parliament's discussions, considering the fact that more than 99% of all commercial DVDs are copy-protected already.

Considering the fact that several European Union countries added exceptions to their legislations that allow personal backups, distribution of copy-protection breaking tools for free, etc, I think that Finnish government and parliament failed miserabely to consider the law's effect on regular consumers. What makes the whole legislation hilarious is that downloading from P2P networks (assuming you don't upload anything that violates existing copyrights) is perfectly legal. So, share legal stuff via DC++ and download the already-ripped-and-compressed version of King Kong in DVDR format and burn it for yourself -- legal. Buy the same movie on DVD and make a copy for yourself because you're afraid that your kids will damage the disc -- illegal.

It should be also noted that while the old copyright legislation gave quite good rights for consumers, it also made it illegal to distribute copyrighted material to general public -- including sharing movies, music, etc via P2P networks. So, the general piracy via P2P networks was already well-covered under the existing law, the new legislation just annoys people's rights to make backups of movies, music, e-books, etc that they have purchased legally and doesn't limit piracy at all.

These are just my personal thoughts about the law that makes American DMCA to pale in comparison.

Tags: afterdawn  copyright  dvd  eucd  finland  finnish  illegal  law  legislation  new  p2p  ripper  stupid 

List of my blog entries

• Moving UTF-8 encoded data from latin1 table to another latin1 table.. (20 May 2008)
• 10 years as a web developer (01 Apr 2008)
• Sharding a forum database (29 Aug 2007)
• Over 100,000 suspended accounts... (12 Aug 2007)
• Holidays and weather (08 Aug 2007)
• Minor tweaks to profile pages (12 Jan 2007)
• "My links" RSS feed added (15 Aug 2006)
• Opera 9 and form enctype silliness (27 Jul 2006)
• Hectic spring is almost over... (30 Apr 2006)
• Added keywords, etc.. (20 Dec 2005)
• Couple of bugs fixed (19 Dec 2005)
• Net makes everything mobile? Not so... (16 Dec 2005)
• Profile pages launched as "public beta" (14 Dec 2005)
• Profile pages getting ready... (05 Dec 2005)
• Removal of pop-unders from AfterDawn.com for registered users (29 Nov 2005)

User comments

• by papo @ 27 Dec 2005 6:27

  THIS LAW SUCKS

• by Rikoshay @ 27 Dec 2005 13:02

  Damn... This is just a huge travisty to everyone in Finland. I think this has gone out of proportion for the sole purpose of achieving monetary gain. I'd help you boycott, but I really can't do much from where I'm at. Maybe I'll just stop buying blank media or something (like I don't anyway;).

• by blueboy4 @ 27 Dec 2005 13:35

  The pic says it all in a nutshell.

• by Dela @ 27 Dec 2005 14:21

  Well put dRD as always. It makes me physically sick how bad this law is, and Sony BMG Finland's following announcement just added more fuel to the fire. You got screwed over big time, along with the other 4 million finns.
  
  Never give up though, that is how they get away with these things. People get very angry about new laws, but as time goes on and nothing happens, slowly people forget all about it and it never changes. This is all planned to work out that way, like EU data retention, just have everybody forget about it and it'll live on.
  
  I just wish that AfterDawn had such a big influence in Finland that it could actually call for a major boycott of CDs and DVDs in Finland for a certain amount of time, to prove a point that the industry relies on the consumers it screws over so much.
  
  One of these days though somebody will snap and their violent retribution will be so big it'll reach news headlines all over the world. This might not happen in Finland but it will happen _somewhere_ eventually. Perhaps, the United States, where there's a lot more guns & ammo lying around ;-)

• by Chris1000 @ 27 Dec 2005 15:19

  I have to agree with Rikoshay. This law sucks. The laws should allow the defeating of copy-protection in order to protect your investement, i.e. backing up CD's and DVD's.
  I am not for making DVD rips widely available on the internet, but these provisions of the new Finnish copyright law that make it illegal to protect your investment should be, and I think if anyone would challenge them in court, would be found illegal.
  Even the DMCA in America has come under attack recently by not only filesharers, but by normal people who are now saying "Why shouldn't I be able to copy something in order to make a backup in case my original gets broken/destroyed?"

• by 7Phoenix @ 28 Dec 2005 1:56

  I think that in the end, law will get so strict, that eventually it'll seem stupid. Hope they dont make a law about using the cell phones Voice Memo to record a song and play it as a ringtone illegal 'cuz i had it there!!

• by Gringle @ 28 Dec 2005 10:51

  I think AfterDawn is a mental step.. Beyond the average bureaucrat..
  
  And like most things freely given, are hard to take away.
  
  g

• by 4574964 @ 28 Dec 2005 15:41

  I think that it is time that I started to rent the movies that
  I am really wanting to see and stop buying DVD's and CD's
  for at least 1 year as a protest to not being able to protect
  my investment in these items.
  Bootsie

• by sammorris @ 29 Dec 2005 12:48

  I download films more out of spite against the legislation than for my personal gain. I can afford them, but after countless hundreds of pounds spent on things that don't deserve all that money, I've had enough. I do support the artists, and feel for them a bit when i download their works, but in reality, I can find no way of giving them their deserved share without sending a cheque straight to them. Maybe we should start having FairTrade CDs...

• by DPensee @ 30 Dec 2005 13:28

  It is clear from the latest action, that, all conspiracy theories aside, the world's legislatures are being either bought or coerced by the international media conglomerates such as Sony. It is apparent that their greed is boundless, and the hybris, doubly-so. It is only a matter of time until there is a worldwide backlash against these companies. Remember what happened to America's Prohibition against alcohol in the 1920s? No one followed the law, so it had to be repealed. To Sony, Warner, and the rest, you can only bite that hand that feeds you for so long until it bites back. Wise up - not meeting your quarterly profit projections DOES NOT constitute a loss of revenue. So stop blaming your audience for dropping revenues that need to be attributed to an obsolete, and dying business model you're willing to do anything--including criminalizing the acts of your customers--to sustain. Or is it your ultimate objective to have consumers eventually stop patronizing your industry altogether? Thomas Edison must be spinning in his grave!
  Grow up and acknowledge that you no longer have a monopoly on the distribution network for entertainment media, and revise your business model to match the 21st Century, instead of trying to hold the world back with you in the 20th!

• by libenja @ 30 Dec 2005 15:10

  agreed.

• by McGregor @ 30 Dec 2005 16:36

  As Blueboy said, the pic says it all.
  
  I've copied it in case it's needed in the future. BTW, it isn't copyrighted is it? Or is it?
  
  <snicker>
  
  Thanks again, Afterdawn.

• by navenoxin @ 30 Dec 2005 21:07

  i guess ill just dl all the guides and programs now... this law is an incentive for me to download all the available coypright rippers and such before they are unavailable- way to go finland
  
  sincere grats for the much needed and appreciated advice and useful tools

• by Avies48 @ 30 Dec 2005 22:01

  I think this is a very illegal law that NEEDS TO BE FOUGHT! it is against the law for a manufaturer to put out an item and not have a way for the consumer to back up THEIR investment. The Manufaturers of such goods only think of one thing:THEMSELVES! Maybe if they started realizing that "we the people" are the ones buying all their shit, then maybe once those sales take a sudden DROP, AND I MEAN 1 HELL UVA DROP, then maybe maybe they will come to the realization that it is not worth the sacrifice. I mean come on who in their right mind will actually buy a dvd or cd and not be able to back it up! every cd i own is on my computer for both back up and mps transfer to AN EXPENSIVE PIECE OF SHIT IPOD THAT COST WAY TO MUCH! do you think they care? HELL NO, BECAUSE IT IS STUPID PEOPLE SUCH AS MYSELF AND ALL THE OTHERS WHO HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED BY TV AND RADIO INTO THINKING THEY NEED ALL THIS CRAP TO MAKE THEMSELVES HAPPY!
  
  
  BOYCOTT THEM BASTARDS, THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL THEY GET THEIR OWN MEDICINE! START A PETITION OF PEOPLE WHO WILL BOYCOTT THEM BASTARDS AND SEND IT TO CONGRESS AND THE SEPERATE MANUFACTURERS!

• by navenoxin @ 30 Dec 2005 22:03

  not anything against your post or motives (which i support), but an illegal law... hmmmm

• by Avies48 @ 30 Dec 2005 22:04

  NETFLIX IT IS,

• by galevin @ 31 Dec 2005 2:05

  Is there an easy way to download all the material that will be deleted or edited as of 1/1/06? Sure seems like a lot of work but I've got today to work on it so any help to download this stuff would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

• by blivetNC @ 31 Dec 2005 2:14

  Damm, never thought that Finland would become "Free" like the USA. George Orwell, I salute you.

• by soup1 @ 31 Dec 2005 5:13

  I think you said it all but I want to wish all the people @afterdawn all the best and I truly hope that this turns around for you because you have been nothing but good to me and I truly appreciate the work you do.

• by Palindine @ 31 Dec 2005 5:13

  i'm not too sure about the new finnish law. but i do know that both american and canadan, laws state that if you own the original, you are allowed to create up to one backup copy for personal use only, however at the same time its illegal to make or distribute backup copies.

• by NeoRocket @ 31 Dec 2005 5:25

  Damn! Golden Earringback awhile ago wrote a song that I count as one of my favorites, "Orwell's Year" with the refrain, "Orwells yera is here, Orwells year is here." Well it most certainly seems so now. Back in Feb of 2004 I broke down and ordered DVD XCopy Platinum and used a retail backup software for the first time for archival. When I loaded their software a link appeared to AfterDawn. Since then many an hour have I spent perusing your guides and forums. All the while watching the RIAA and Sony-BMG and others fighting for more and more Draconian control. They think that we NEED them? They will find that if they persist in making the consumer also the enemy that no one will win. Especially them. They are addicted to a MUCH bigger money flow than I need. And they are biting the hand that feeds them. Namely us. The consumer.
  
  I will continue to frequent this FINE site! Sad to see that Sony is getting away with similar crap it has been doing in America. In America the politicians keep talking about what a free country America is. Many Americans are starting to think of that as a joke. We enjoy some freedoms not found in Europe, just hard to come up with an example right this minute but I'll get back to ya, in Europe you enjoy many freedomes (depending on country) that we don't in the US, ummm... Too numerous for me to list in this short post so i won't try. I would love to see the rest of the world resist the unabated greed that American corporations have inflicted upon its own citizens and now seek to impose on the rest of the Earth. Sorry to see another brick of true freedom cast aside anywheres in the world. Perhaps the Finnish Parliament need to take a vacation and relax at a few Amsterdam coffeshops, and be sure and order Amsterdams finest umm, cigarettes, with the coffee?

• by Sjel @ 31 Dec 2005 8:02

  Wow, I am truly sorry to hear about the new law. I live in America, home of the deceived and land of the greedy and must say that this new law sucks big time. I've been backing up cd's for quite some time, started backing up my movies about 3 yrs ago. Although I don't log into your site a lot, believe me, the times that I have I've always found the answwers I'm looking for.
  
  Unfortunatly, I have seen very little success in trying to fight/challenge laws like this. But, if someone comes up with something, I hope it's mentioned in a news letter (like it wouldn't be). I'll still be using your site when I have problems. To the folks at AfterDawn, thanks for all the help, keep up the good work, and hopefully, this new law will be amended.

• by bc_grl @ 31 Dec 2005 8:22

  I whole-heartedly agree with Sjel! This new law forsakes the people who actually purchase the DVD/CDs and back them up. My son is not allowed to touch originals and I was actually thinking of backing all 800+ of my original DVDs as well. Why not back up your investments? I will continue to support your site becuase I find answers here that I would never find elsewhere. It is sad that everything succombs to greed... Guess it truly is the root of all evil. Good luck!

• by ZaZen @ 31 Dec 2005 13:40

  I downloaded every single program that will be removed and I promise to torrent like Hell.

• by ZaZen @ 31 Dec 2005 13:43

  p.s. I had several DVD's destroyed in Hurricane Rita. Thanks to my backyup on an external hard drive, all is well. I could not have done this without the tools provided on this site. I will continue to support the communtiy as best I can.

• by hickflix @ 31 Dec 2005 15:07

  Well! I also agree that this sucks and Those big companies are just so broke they have to make sure they suck every last cent out of us! But guys it's all about politics, The voice of the few which usually consists of A) The big guys with all the Cash who can pay for the laws and anything they want and B) The few who actually sit and make these bullshit laws! If more of us would show up or be invited to vote for what we all want the 20% or less that do will always get there way! I think we the people should all have the right to vote and decide what the laws are going to be! Whens the last time you got Invited to express your opinion? The power is in numbers but we don't do our part so the Idiots and big shots with all the $$$ get what they want as usual!

• by iandavid @ 01 Jan 2006 11:35

  Sucks doesn't it but, PC Utilities-67 Mag has 21 days evaluation of SlySoft. com AnyDVD on their cover CD with links to their website to buy AnyDVD and CloneDVD for about $26.00 U.S. and PC Utilities is an English Mag and SlySoft.com a US company. So the fight goes on. Sorry to hear about AfterDawn's problems, I only found this site about a month ago, it will be interesting to see how you cope. Here in Aust. it's illegal to copy right protected DVD's but somehow it's OK to copy CD's to Windows Media Player,hmmmm. Strange that!!!!!

• by conair @ 02 Jan 2006 4:45

  I’m very sorry to read about such events. Once again money talks, SONY seems to by one country after the other. But remember their power is our money. So BOYCOTT is our weapon, use it well.

• by chiangeg @ 02 Jan 2006 5:34

  law ...... are the torrent still legal ? and after download the torrent and burn it to cd is legal ?

• by movierfun @ 02 Jan 2006 19:40

  Seems its a little late for the industry and Finland to worry about your site most of us already have the copy protection programs that you provided us over the years.
  The horse is already out of the barn Sony and your likes.
  Every time those clowns come up with a way to stop us theres always a guy out there to go around their programs.
  So folks pass those programs around to your friends.

• by miata @ 02 Jan 2006 21:40

  You guys have saved my bacon (ass) so many times when I needed help. THANK YOU, so very much and good luck with the fight... Miatacole

• by ZippyDSM @ 02 Jan 2006 22:38

  Nothign like makeign it illage to make your on backups or make mix tapes/cds or put your bought tape's onto CD...

• by SooooWhat @ 03 Jan 2006 3:28

  I agree that it is taking Legal rights and making them Illegal. Copyright laws allow a person to make a copy of a book or magazine article for personal or educational use. So what the heck is so different with CD's and DVD's. UMMMM.....let me see....they are made of plastic and they can make our lives hell by doing this. I get it now. Sorry I am blonde it takes a few.

• by koleraba @ 06 Jan 2006 16:33

  It's EU that sucks. The power of order has become evil to the interest of people. We hear all the time of the huge loss of money for the big corporations due to piracy - as if everyone would buy the things they download. Another thing: you guys in Finnland are relatively rich when compared to prices of software which are pretty much the same everywhere in EU. But take Slovakia for instance. The "piracy" helps youth to learn programs dealing with music, robotics, economy...... And now our goverment works for the interest of the very few instead of helping their own people evolve. A fair goverment could for instance pay reasonable amount to authors as compensation or sth like that and let the software come to right hands if you know what i mean. Not everybody is born rich. Should i believe that schools will provide best software for kids?? EU sucks in its obedience to power coming from USA. Bad times are surely to follow. What to do? Watch STAR TREK and learn of new order;). Seriously: read Orwell's 1984. We need new fairness and unity. EU is cripled incapable administrative gigant.

• by Nobbin @ 08 Jan 2006 11:08

  Of course the manufacturers themselves can get away with the whole regioning scam that means buyers in some parts of the world have to pay inflated prices compared to other parts of the world of this artificial mechanism of applying regions to DVD's and DVD players. The manufacturers have establlished an virtual cartel this way which is actually illegal in the EU and contravenes WTO rules too but the buggers seem to get away with.

• by pa104inf @ 10 Jan 2006 18:26

  The problem with Europeans is that pretty much any law passed by the government is acceptable to them. They still follow the mentality that is government approved it then it must be ok.

• by pa104inf @ 10 Jan 2006 18:34

  It amazes me that nobody has asked the question in Finland why are we paying a surcharge for blank media when it is now illegial to do what the surcharge was supposed to cover?

• by Nobbin @ 13 Jan 2006 10:31

  One notices that though governments pay lip service to the European convention on human rights they constantly flaunt it. I read that even discussions on certain copyright related matters are now banned. So freedom of speach is out of the window, the days of Hitler and Stalin have returned.

• by charlie8j @ 25 Feb 2006 10:34

  I was unaware of this new law passed in Finland. That really does suck. You should be able to back up your CD's or DVD's because as everyone knows, the originals do not last forever !!!

• by witzend @ 04 Apr 2006 16:01

  Finland is fantastic in many respects. I remember my time in Rovaniemi and would like to go back to the spa again. Where shall I go now for information and support?
  
  It is not without some notice that Newspapers very seldom write exposes on their largest advertizers. So too is the nation of Finland to a large employer Sony BMG Finland. Think of all the brain power they tie up.
  
  I wonder what money has changed hands, don't you? It is not suprizing that politicians can be purchased: it is suprizing just how cheep the price actually is, isn't it?
  
  sadly there is one thing to be learned from history, it's that we don't learn from history.

• by Sindarin8 @ 07 Apr 2006 20:54

  I agree; that law blows! I say 'that' because I'm in America, but I know how you feel as we are rapidly becomming "the land of the free - but only with sufficient money to bribe politicians". We are on the fast track to posthumously reinstate the Nazi Regime. Soon, nothing will matter but how much money you have - or don't have, for that matter.
  
  Witzend: Agreed, this ruling was accepted only due to massive bribes and payoffs.
  
  ZaZen: Hey, please e-mail me:
  
  brian at akagame dot com
  
  Thanks, for reading.

• by wkc44 @ 30 Apr 2006 11:20

  I just think it's interesting that Sony sells the burners and blank media, and then slaps people on the hand for using it. No one has enough home-made movies to justify Sony selling blank media in bundles of 100 or more. What do they think this stuff is being used for?

• by jj_frap @ 26 Jul 2006 11:47

  This bullshit happened because of that greedy bitch Tarja Turunen and her cronies in the record industry!

• by xhardc0re @ 26 Jul 2006 12:35

  Whatever happens in the future, AfterDawn must do everything possible to keep things on the site legal. If that means removing links/files, fine. As long as the forums remain open (which are considered legally free speech in the U.S. & many countries), it will provide information.
  
  Is it legal to put someone in prison/fine for merely talking about copyright protection? When governments start doing this, it is time to stand up. Change the government. And throw out the business ties to government.
  
  Big business should not control free speech.
  Only the people should be allowed to make laws regarding free speech.

• by NubePOSER @ 03 Oct 2006 14:45

  If these pricks at the studios and record companies will not let you backup, then play their game and sue their asses for faulty products. Products that don't work or resist scratches etc. Everytime a disc is damaged sue for faulty packaging and material defects. Sue for replacements and shipping. Keep doing it. At least it is a dent. Use the no backup clauses to hold them responsible. They were paid and you should have your products. On the flip side I sugest you only buy the best in entertainment. If things get too bad cut all purchases for music and movies who participate in the RIAA and MPAA. If they thought backups hurt their business model show em how "$0" hurts that model. Urge friends and family not to buy into their copyright hijack of all our Govts. If you must! rent. If you must buy! pass it around take back some of the rental income. Typical lawyers and politicians. Fok Em!

• by NubePOSER @ 03 Oct 2006 14:53

  I forgot to add something to the end of my last rant. I love you guys. Host site,programers, and dreamers. You guys rock. Made my world a more exciting place. Tools and toys it was like going to a hardware store with all kinds of power tools. AHHHHHH AHHHH. LOL

• by NubePOSER @ 03 Oct 2006 15:21

  One more thing that is irronic. These studios have no respect for other peoples copyright law. For example I worked at a few. They used to, and probably still do, pass out copies of magazine articles and other online content around depts. They simply figure they are above the law or it is their "Fair use right" imagine that!. They probably still have filing cabinets full of examples. Hear that mag publishers. Hundreds of your articles have been passed to hundreds more employees for bussiness use and marketing. Did you see any of that? I remember seeing the copies roll off the copy machines daily. Oh ya I think they bought "one" subscription.

• by sdsunjay @ 17 Mar 2007 19:56

  We need to find some country that does not care about copying dvds. Like latvia or some other dumpy country no one cares about in europe.

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