In Switzerland Downloading Copyrighted Materials for personal Use is Legal

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

The idea that the availability of something for free does not in any way reduce the demand for the paid version is incredible, and requires extraordinary proof. I haven't seen that.

Sherlock Holmes is the best selling Kindle title on Amazon. You don't even need to look on pirate sites to find it for free.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Fbone

But you are still relying on the honesty of the participants.

Americans aren't known for their honesty.

I'd be surprised if the Virgin Media one asked Americans.

[Quexos]

Do you mean "The house of silk" ?
Or stuff written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ?

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Sherlock Holmes is the best selling Kindle title on Amazon. You don't even need to look on pirate sites to find it for free.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I'm sorry to hear that. It's not that way in other parts of the world.

It is bad, but not isolated to just Australia either.

TV shows are just as bad, plus availability and pricing of books can be an issue as well (ebooks are worse, much worse).

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by sabredog

It is bad, but not isolated to just Australia either.

TV shows are just as bad, plus availability and pricing of books can be an issue as well (ebooks are worse, much worse).

Living in Australia has other benefits and advantages. Hopefully, they are superior to the pricing and availability of some entertainment.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Living in Australia has other benefits and advantages.

Oh, there is that

[Kevin2960]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is a sad day for those who make their living from IP. The Swiss government is essentially saying "we don't give a damn that our citizens are stealing from you". Very disappointing.

Agreed Completely

[Kevin2960]

Originally Posted by karunaji

Yes, it is OK.

It makes no difference because statistically another person who stole someone else's program bought your program.

That is surely just the Arguement of someone who just wants to steal anything they want ... With no recriminations

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Do you mean "The house of silk" ?
Or stuff written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ?

Conan Doyle.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-She...dp/B003A03RRU/

[karunaji]

Originally Posted by Kevin2960

That is surely just the Arguement of someone who just wants to steal anything they want ... With no recriminations

Swiss lawmakers are saying that it is not a stealing or something along these lines.

In essence it is not much different from progressive income tax collection. The more you earn, the higher your tax rate. It sounds unfair but it isn't. The total benefit to society is larger than the fairness of equal rate to all earners.

[kartu]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have never received received a penny in compensation from all those Swiss citizen who are taking my software without paying for it. Should I be expecting a cheque from the Swiss government to arrive?

Harry,

there is an important point which is ALWAYS forgotten by pro-copyright group. (I'm a software developer too, by the way)

The fact that someone has obtained your software illegally most of the time does NOT mean, that he/she would have payed for it, if he/she couldn't get it for free!

Normally people that get stuff "illegally" get a lot of it, then hardly use small subset. Look at number of jailbroken iPhones vs number of "stolen apps", "pirates" produce helluvalot traffic.

Overlooking this and drooling over mythical "lost sales" leads to witch hunt by various MAFIAAs that produces a lot of noise and wastes a lot of resources, most often leading to the opposite results (look at number of titles ruined by draconian DRM)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kartu

Harry,

there is an important point which is ALWAYS forgotten by pro-copyright group. (I'm a software developer too, by the way)

The fact that someone has obtained your software illegally most of the time does NOT mean, that he/she would have payed for it, if he/she couldn't get it for free!

I did not say that that was the case. If you look at my post again, you'll see that it was made in response to a post stating that the Swiss government compensated people for the downloads made by its citizens. I was simply enquiring how to go about claiming my share of this compensation.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by karunaji

It is possible that the original assumption that people who download pirated content spend the same amount of money on entertainment is not exactly true.

It's not an assumption. They actually assumed the opposite, did a study, and it was proven wrong.

Something to consider for those who think that the site where you can download files from should be a clear indication of the legality of the downloads: you can download Ubuntu OS from torrent sites legally but the 1984 incident involved illegal downloads from Amazon.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

I think an increase in the tax rate and an end to online anonymity would go along way toward compensating the content providers.

Except that "an end to online anonymity" isn't really feasible, as explained here by Bruce Schneier.

Some excerpts:

Originally Posted by Bruce Schneier

Attempts to banish anonymity from the Internet won't affect those savvy enough to bypass it, would cost billions, and would have only a negligible effect on security.

Originally Posted by Bruce Schneier

Any attempts to circumvent this limitation will fail, and will increasingly need to be backed up by the sort of real-world police-state measures that the entertainment industry is demanding in order to make copy-protection work. That's how China does it: police, informants, and fear.

[carld]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

It's not an assumption. They actually assumed the opposite, did a study, and it was proven wrong.

Something to consider for those who think that the site where you can download files from should be a clear indication of the legality of the downloads: you can download Ubuntu OS from torrent sites legally but the 1984 incident involved illegal downloads from Amazon.

Anyone who claims they didn't know that downloading the latest blockbuster movie or million selling album off of torrents is illegal is a liar.