Quote:
Originally Posted by sirmaru
As we have seen in this thread the Netherlands has passed their own laws exempting all eBook file downloaders from any restrictions whether those files are DRM protected or DRM stripped or being given away free with author / publisher permission or being given away without that permission.
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Uh. That's a bit wrong I'm afraid. Ebooks are not treated differently compared to other files.
In the Netherlands, downloading any files using any service is legal. The reason for this is that the Dutch government is of the opinion (at this point in time) that it is unreasonable to expect someone to go try and find out if a particular file is illegal or not, before downloading.
For example: You visit Usenet, and there is a file there:
"A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens"
What version? A legal one, containing only the text in a TXT-file? An illegal one in EPUB form, that was created and professionally laid out by a company that normally sells on Amazon.com? (A public domain text is NOT always free: there can be copyright on the particular ebook itself.)
And a fictional file, found through Google:
"The great dragons of Andramoon - Sir Gawain Hugesword"
Maybe that's a freebee. Maybe it's not. Hey, some sites offer it for free as the first in a series, other sites want $2 for it. Who's right? Is that version which Google found a legal one or not?
It's confusing, maybe even impossible to determine if a file is legal or not. This is the main reason that the Dutch law basically says: "If it's on the internet in whatever form, you're allowed to download it."
It is also legal to crack and remove any copy protection on any media, for personal use and backup purposes.
However, uploading, distributing, sharing, and giving away of content which you don't have the rights to distribute is illegal. If you upload books or movies or music to Usenet or Torrent sites and someone files a complaint, you could be busted. If you give a copy of a CD to colleague A and Colleague B who hates you tells the authorities and they decide to investigate, you could be in trouble.
You'll not face charges like the ones in Amerika ("Hey, you shared 9 songs. You must pay us 50 million and then go to jail for 285 years"), but I imagine it still can't be fun to be taken to court.
There are some talks about looking into making some downloading illegal. This would be material "that is clearly illegally provided and coming from an evidently illegal source". Think about downloading high-profile media, of which the status can be readily determined.
Everybody, and I mean *EVERYBODY* can determine and understand that a movie released in theatres in 2013 just CAN'T be a legal download from Usenet or Torrent in 2014, a week after the DVD/Blu-Ray was released. Everybody knows that a Torrent containing 40.000 Fantasy and Sci-Fi books MUST have a lot of illegally distributed stuff in there.
I know, it's not completely honest, because it only encompasses high-profile and/or well known material. A lot of material (such as a non-free version of a PD book) will probably still go unpunished.
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(For some reason, computer programs and games are an exception: it's not legal to download them, except if it is specifically stated that they are free, or you can provide proof that you have the right to download them. For example, logging in to a known legal service such as GOG.com, or Steam.)