Germany passes EUCD - with a twist

[Treebeard]

Germany has passed its version of the EUCD, only they added one scary thing, they make it illegal to even discuss circumventing copy protection!!!

anybody in here from Germany? are u angry?

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/4278.cfm

[pixel]

That is scary. I live in the UK and it says there have already been drafts made up for it. Better get my backups done now. Bummer

[mysticgohan17]

Illegal to discuss circumvention of copy protection in Germany...heh, in the US it's illegal for children to discuss circumvention of the cookie jar.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Will those EU countries block websites such as DVDrhelp.com,Afterdawn.com and Doom9.org?
Draconian measures will always fail because there will always be a way to download DVDDecrypter,SmartRipper,DVDShrink,etc.

[Gregg]

Hi,

Last time I flew from US to Germany /a month ago/ I saw at least 5 german PC magazines with big letters on their covers saying "How to copy a DVD", "Copying DVDs made easy" and similar. I'm talking about the newspaper store at the airport... You can imagine the rest!
Obviously this "hobby" is spreading very fast there and some people got very scared with the CD and DVD sales dwindling second year in a row.

Enjoy!

[g_shocker182]

you know those germans, if you don't join the party they'll come get cha!

[The village idiot]

Man that sucks! Some really good hacking comes out of Germany!

[mysticgohan17]

Man that sucks! Some really good hacking comes out of Germany!

almost all hacking comes from germany. theres hardly a keygen site that doesn't have an .nl extension.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Man that sucks! Some really good hacking comes out of Germany!

almost all hacking comes from germany. theres hardly a keygen site that doesn't have an .nl extension.

.nl=Netherlands
.de=Germany(Deutschland)

[trottel fritz]

i dont think that law will have too much effect on me(i'm from germany). i mean, you can get your software anywhere, friends, school (a great marketplace for illegal software... ), and of course the internet. Of course, they won't filter web pages, how should they do that?! Only you are not allowed to report in public about this illegal software. The restriction of discussion thus only concerns computer magazines and possibly some web pages.

just a short insight into the law:
- copying cds or dvds as a back-up is still allowed, as long as you copy the original and not a copy. you can copy music-cds thee times and even give them to good friends (but only to GOOD friends!!!) while you are not allowed to use (or download) programs which fool copying protection systems. you are though allowed to make an exact copy of cds or dvds, including the copying protection system, although you may not use, buy or sell software capable of doing that.
- the situation about filesharing programs is also made clear: its illegal to use it, but they cant do anything to you even if they get you because no court will accept the accusation as the financial damage you caused is too low.


not making too much sense, all that...

[thayne]

you can copy music-cds thee times and even give them to good friends (but only to GOOD friends!!!)

Why no so-so friends, or bad friends?

ou are though allowed to make an exact copy of cds or dvds, including the copying protection system, although you may not use, buy or sell software capable of doing that.

How do you copy a DVD without first de-cryptiong it????? You can't....

Damn, I'd say it doesn't make ANY sense!

[trottel fritz]

Why no so-so friends, or bad friends?

dont ask me, i only quote this page:
http://computer.t-online.de/comp/soft/pro-/fs/CP/fs-urheberrechtsnovelle,photoNr=6.html
Sorry its in german. it says:
"May i give self-burned music-cds with my favourite songs to my friends?"
The lawyer's answer is: "Yes, when theyre very close friends to you. But the copies must be made only from the original. At the moment, at most seven copies are allowed - with the new lay, only three will be allowed."

i dont think the authors are liars, the page is from t-online which is something like the german AOL, if you want so and normally theyre quite serious...

[SaSi]

Most airports these days are non-smoking areas. But they sell cigarettes and cigars. So they sell you something but don't allow yoy to use it there. Hypocrecy.

People don't buy CDs and DVDs in the numbers the companies want because they are pretty expensive and the content is not really worh it.

Now, it's true that some people copy a friend's disk or a rental, because they consider the copy price to be worth the while. If (by whatever magical way) copying stops, the industry will not see any increase in sales. People will probably continue renting but recorder and recordable media sales will decrease (if that is what people buy them for).

By the way, in the EU, every manufacturer of recordable disks, white copy paper or recorders, pay a fee to the federation that manages intelectual property rights. This is distributed to the owners of intelectual property anyway. So this part of the equation is covered.

[ahackhack]

... Of course, they won't filter web pages, how should they do that?! .

Don't fool yourself, it would be easily accomplished if the German government so desired to do so. If you don't think it's possible, just read up on the PRC government's control over the Chinese internet user's ability to access information.
Well, perhaps not easily, but it could be done.


an aside: Some netsters in China started using something like a P2P system to defeat the filtering. Sort of a combination of P2P and proxy server. I don't remember the name of the pioneering program used, but the company that developed it was purchased by the US government (one of it's many arms that is) and was shortly thereafter discontinued.

Of course now there are quite a few plain proxy programs (like Proxomitron that I use personally) and using a proxy is the only way to get some content in the PRC. The CNN site, for example, is blocked by "the man" in China. But the government watches for new proxies and blocks access to them as quickly as they can, and they have even set up fake proxy servers trying to nab the offending "seekers of impure thought".




Of course, Germany is NOT China, and I doubt very much that the German government would try to institute such insane measures, but it IS possible.

[DereX888]

ahackhack wrote:

[actually i would have to paste entire post of his, so scroll up if you need to read it ]

geez, all what you say sounds like "1984", except it is reality, and it is 2003... I read this book few days ago, and now Im reading your post - its incredible

but on the other hand: if communism were gone in China, chinese people would not work for $200/mthly anymore, and we wouldn't be able to buy all those cheap items coming from there, therefore we - consumers on this side of the big pond - we should actually support Big Brother in China and hail "long live chairman mao" (I'm just kidding of course )

Don't let commrades (or whatever they called) get ya ahackhack!

[The village idiot]

(like Proxomitron that I use personally)

Got suit? And what would you be using that for?

[ahackhack]

(like Proxomitron that I use personally)

Got suit? And what would you be using that for?

I am paranoid. There are a lot of crazy bastages on the internet don't ya know
Besides, it adds a lot more control to your browser, such as killing banners, pop-ups, and branding on Geocities sites. It does a few more things than merely managing your proxy interface.

[txpharoah]

(like Proxomitron that I use personally)

Got suit? And what would you be using that for?

During the Iraqi war, in order to see Al Jazeera's website, you had to use a proxy server. There are lots of things like this normally, where content is confined to a geographic area, but proxies go right through it.

It has a use beyond hackers.