[pp.int.general] Attaching a file to releases in filesharing networks

[Helmut Pozimski]

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Valentin Villenave schrieb:
> 2007/10/22, Helmut Pozimski <helmutpozimski at web.de>:
>
> Hi Helmut, nice to hear from you.
hi and sorry for the delay. I was really busy with other things
regarding PP and forgot this for a few days.

>
> Yes indeed, I think we really should have this discussion here. It is
> IMO a major choice to make, which has to involve every PP.
I agree with you. But since it was not possible to get the opinion of
every PP in a foreseeable time I decided to ask every single PP alone
to get the project ready ASAP.
> This has led to a situation where the Parti Pirate, maybe more than
> other PPs, has to cope with two different orientations: one is to
> promote the "free" licenses, spirit, etc., the second is to defend our
> civil rights, privacy, and freedom to share even copyrighted material.
> In the first one, which is kind of my speciality as an author myself,
> we're regarded as "FSF-ayatollahs", in the second one, we're treated
> as terrorists.
It's basically the same here in Germany but we're split in some more
groups. Not just "FSF-ayatollahs" but also "Open Source evangelists",
"Creative Commons lovers" and at least not few people who don't care
about licenses as long as it is free of charge.
>
> Moreover, the French parliament itself has become quite schizophrenic
> about it: in the same time, they've adopted an awful law which takes
> away almost every freedom for users (making such softwares as VLC
> illegal, by the way; I can even go in jail just for having mentioned
> its name!), and... they've adopted another agreement which makes
> deputies use Ubuntu as their only OS!
That's really interesting since there are similar laws in Germany.
Aren't there any precedences for that? I heard about some people in
France filing charges against themselves for using the libdvdcss, did
anything happen? In Germany going to jail because of something like
that is a really theoretical option. I use libdvdcss myself to watch
and copy DVDs on my system and I don't think anyone has a problem with
that.
> So the Parti Pirate is in a difficult situation. Both of the
> orientations I just defined are legitimate, and we do endorse both of
> them. But we also want to act as thoughtful citizens, and not ignore
> the laws and the institutions, no matter how strongly we can disagree
> with them.
That's exactly what we do. As long as the laws are made in a
democratic way and do not violate our Grundgesetz (=some kind of
Constitution) we try to act lawfully.
> The last version of the text file I sent has not raised any objections.
>
> Basically, I added the following sentence (here translated into English):
>
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> To achieve this goal we want to redefine copyright laws:  to decriminalise
> the private use of filesharing networks to download copyrighted material to
> attain a great cultural variety.
>
> There are already creation or distribution models which give citizens
> such a freedom, and to support these, we will only attach this text
> file to contents whose license allows us to do so. If you happen to
> have found this file alongside with copyrighted material, abusively or
> illegaly downloaded, we can not be held responsible – though we are
> glad that existing technologies have given you full access to
> Knowledge, Culture or Art.
>
> How a free handling of culture without dramatic restrictions already works
> today can be seen on jamendo.com, a great music portal where more than 5000
> albums available can be downloaded, redistributed and enjoyed for free.
>
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
I read it and think it could be an option. But I saw it as an
proposal. Do you think you could reach a consensus about this in
France? Just no objections doesn't mean everyone agrees. I don't know
how come to a decision normally. But being able to release the French
version would be great.
>
> Once again, I think this is worth a discussion on this list.
>
> I find that the idea is great, but we have to be extremely careful.
I always welcome a constructive discussion, but I don't think we have
to be that careful. As long as there are no german or European laws
that forbid something like that I don't see any problems. But if you
want, I have no problem with releasing the French file or even other
laguaged files with such a disclaimer. But I think its more like a fig
leaf which helps nothing in legal concerns.

Regards
Helmut
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