Sorry, only have a french link (
http://www.odebi.org/new/theme/accueil.php?a=90&session=&var_page=1 ) so that won't be helpful to you folks, so let me translate:
"
For the EU the only downloads that are punishable are those meant for commercial purpose.The file sharing softwares have for long been targeted by the music and cinema majors, accusing them of being the first responsible for their profit losses. According to them, culprists are not only those who use those programs to sell ilgeal copies, but also all the people who download musical and video files for their own private use.
The many national governments don't exactly adopt the same stance regarding that growing phenomenon. The precursor in the net users protection is Canada which, in a law-suit that opposed the largest music labels and 29 users of those P2P websites, sided with those users, since they were downloading and sharing music protected with author rights for their own private use only.
Net user freed from suspiscious assumptions
This is more or less the way the European Union decided to follow. The european parliament indeed took up a directive project regarding intelectual property which, altho forbidding illegal copy ad lucrative distribution, completly clears file adepts of personnal video and music file sharing.
Europe so makes its own the idea of only those who draw profits from piracy would be subject to judicial pursuits. "To be clear, this means that acts commited thruthfully by consummers, as those who download internet music for their personal use, won't fall under this law text", European parliament press service explains. On the contrary, for those who made a true profession of black marketting, sanctions will be severe and will go up to prison and bank account freeze.
Precious ally
So Bruxelles decided to take into account researches made up til now by many institutions which demonstrated that P2P was not an enemy, but a precious ally for the majors. Numbers talk for themselves: 80% of P2P users use d/l software to discover artists before going to a store and buy their CD.
The european directive, before getting operational, will have to go through the Union minister council, which foresees adopting it from here to around the end of the 2004 legislature. The national goverments will then have 24 months to ratify it."
Well, as usual with the EU, it's not going fast, but at least, it's going the right way.
Go Eu!!!
"laughs at the poor yankees and their beloved RIAA"
