Monday, May 30, 2011

Download: Germany is considering a graduated response system

Bernd Neumann, German Minister of Culture, announced consider putting in place a system of graduated response, similar to that established by the Hadopi in France, to fight against illegal downloading. Speaking at a convention of the CDU (conservatives), the Minister said that Internet providers should "take responsibility" and he expressed support for the establishment of a system warning prior to legal sanction.

This model, called "graduated response", which is chosen by the Hadopi in France: the user suspected of downloading receives a first warning by mail, then by a second letter, before any transfer of his case to prosecutors may decide that a sentence of fine or suspension of access to the Internet.

REJECTION OF THE AGGREGATE LICENSE The Minister rejected the proposal of the Green Party, which wanted to establish a "creative contribution" or "global license" to solve the problem of illegal downloading. In this system, also proposed in France by some of the opposition during the debates on the law called "Hadopi" users pay extra for their subscription to the Internet, which is then redistributed to beneficiaries in exchange for decriminalization of the download for personal use and non-commercial use.

A system deemed "unworkable" and "unconstitutional" by Bernd Neumann. Following the G8 in Deauville, which ended Friday, the eight most industrialized countries have pledged to take strict measures for the protection of copyright. The subject remains one of the main points of cleavage between the governments, advocacy groups of Internet users, and industry.

When e-G8, the G8 summit devoted to pre-Internet, business services, like Google, have expressed criticism of the very protective of the laws of copyright, while the beneficiaries and government argued in favor of extending the model Hadopi abroad.

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