Quote:
Originally Posted by HansTWN
If it is legal, then why are people worried? That means BREIN can't touch them. Besides, those surcharges on media, do authors, publishers get a cut of those proceeds? If so, how much? That whole scheme is just giving more power to politicians who get more money to distribute. And those who don't copy anything are paying for those who do.
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If it is legal? There is no question about it. At this point in time it is legal to download ebooks in the Netherlands. Don't worry about it, people still buy books even if it is legal to download them.
What people are worried about is that BREIN together with the company that provides the watermarks for ebooks have decided that the contracts that the ebook sellers sign have to stipulate that the ebook sellers have to provide BREIN with information on the customers who bought the ebooks with the watermarks that are found on the web, since uploading is illegal. This way ebook sellers are forced to give information on their customers to a third party because the majority of Dutch books have watermarks so they can't refuse to sign the contract.
If you read the OP you will see that there is a discussion within the Dutch legal system on whether having the ebook sellers submit personal data on customers to third parties is legal or illegal.
What the readers are worried about is that simply finding a watermarked book on the web doesn't mean that it was uploaded by the one who bought it because someone could have made copies of the book without them knowing it.