Biased Anti-Piracy Laws Cause Problems in Denmark
Written by enigmax on April 10, 2009Tough anti-piracy laws in Denmark have notably caused some serious problems for The Pirate Bay, as ISPs there were forced to block the world’s largest tracker. The law allows outfits such as IFPI to shut down sites with relative ease but this imbalance towards rights holders will be addressed in a new report due soon.
While in most countries the IFPI needs to pressure governments or ISPs in order to close Internet connections used for piracy, in Denmark laws may already allow it. Recently Clement Salung Petersen Ph.D, an assistant professor from the Center for Corporate Responsibility at the University of Copenhagen noted that Danish legislation is very much biased towards the rights holders. By contrast, Internet users and website operators receive a pretty raw deal.
“It must be assumed that it is already in accordance with current Danish law that in principle it is possible to close an Internet connection that has been used to infringe copyrights,” says Peterson. “But the law does not take into account the very significant conflicting interests that will prevail in such a case,” he added.
The problem is the unbalanced approach to a potential disconnection. In Denmark an Internet user’s interests are not considered when making a decision to close a site or connection – they are not even involved in the process and therefore have no opportunity to defend themselves. Furthermore, should a connection or site be closed in error, there is little chance for claiming compensation. “It’s obvious that this runs counter to some basic legal principles,” says Petersen.
One of the problems lies in the way the Danes implemented the EU 2001 ‘Infosoc directive‘, which differs greatly from the manner in which other EU countries have handled it. Under Danish law, ISPs can be made responsible for the copyright violations of their subscribers, which is why ISPs can shut down a customers Internet connection or close a website so easily.
Now, according to Comon.dk, in the latest draft report from the Ministry of Culture Conference on piracy, having previously ignored the problems the Danish government has now included the concerns of Professor Petersen, as it tries to decide whether or not to introduce new legislation against users who share copyright material on the Internet.
The draft is also set to look at some of the demands being put forward by the IFPI and other similar groups, including their 3 strikes initiative. Another IFPI proposal is that individuals should be made responsible for whatever happens on their Internet connection, whether they carried out any infringements or not. This suggestion was put forward after legal action by IFPI against two women failed last year, with the pair successfully arguing a ‘wireless defense’. The women said they had no knowledge of the alleged infringements and therefore shouldn’t have to pay any damages. The court agreed and acquitted them of all charges.
To avoid this type of outcome in future cases, the IFPI wants to change the burden of proof so that instead of the rights holder having to prove that an individual engaged in piracy, it is up to the individual to prove that he didn’t and that the responsibility for infringement lies with a 3rd party.
The final version of the report will be published in the spring.
Previously: BBC Gets Ready for BitTorrent Distribution
Next: File-Sharing Site Admin Sentenced to 6 Months Jail
60 Responses
I do not recognize all the reports saying it’s not possible to access TBP in Denmark. Whereever I try, on which computer, I have absolutely no problems whatsoever to access the site.
“Yes sir, someone did steal your car and run over a puppy. As owner of the car they are suing you because you are the registered owner.”
Funny how ridiculous these all seem when one applies the pre-internet thought patterns into the logic and it sort seems categoricly ridiculous.
Also – first!
IFPI = Toilet paper.
1. Wipe with rear end.
2. Dispose in trash or toilet where it belongs.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2.
Have a nice day!
Jens, It depends on the ISP. I’m sitting on a TDC line right now, and have no access to TPB.
This change in the burden of proof is pretty insane. I’ve never had this much reason to hack my poor neighbour’s WEP.
I should sue the gov for inciting criminal behaviour :D
“it is up to the individual to prove that he didn’t”
… so basically… guilty until proven innocent?
nice.
To the Mr. and Mrs. anti-pirates of the world. Please take a chill pill. Better yet have some freaking jellybabies. Theres enough and more important events that are occurring around the world than going after people who are sharing entertainment.
Torrents actually make the entertainment industry better by making them work harder to release higher quality media.
It would be nice to have Lord Of The Rings type of movies to look forward to every year.
Leave TPB alone and go after real pirates off the coast of Somalia.
Cheers to Torrents!
@2 epic fail!!!
I can’t access tpb in Denmark. Only way I can do this is with a proxy. I’m glad life has not worked for me over here and am heading back to the UK.
Guilty until proven innocent, Fucking NONSENSE.
@4 Gorm
“I should sue the gov for inciting criminal behaviour :D”
The proper avenue for such a thing is to petition government to change the legislation.
It’s
Fucking
Probably
Infringment
Exterminate, Exterminate, Exterminate
Cheese Danish !
Hmm. I recognize the enormous panic with the content distributors. The extent to which their efforts to quelch all use of any material goes is outrageous and needs to be put down.
I am slowly starting to understand how harmful it really is to everyone – not only users, but also any artist who wants to build on existing culture, now owned by a studio or recording label.
Death to IFPI, RIAA and MPAA. Free us from their oppression! Wake up, governments of the world. It is your task to protect your citizens, not evil multinational corporations.
Cheers for the pastry’s…. but you can keep your copyright enforcement legislation!
guilty unless able to prove innocence!! the anti piracy organisations are still trying to take over and run the internet! what makes any of them think they are able to take away a persons legal rights? are they themselves above the law? i think not! no good introducing laws and then letting those that dont want to implement them get away with it! legislation, certainly, must be enforced to protect peoples basic rights, not just in Denmark and France but every where else in the world as well! said before. if common sense is used, everyone gains.
That headline could read “Biased Anti-Piracy Laws Cause Problems in the whole damn WORLD!!!”
, its not piracy anymore…its sharing.
not based on money…just good karma
Cheers fxg for Religulous rip great start to easter ;0)
@7
You don’t need a proxy to acces TPB, just change DNS to OpenDNS or a simmilar service.
Its not illigal to change DNS (This means you can bypass the block without breaking the law)
@2
That phrase is mistaken, its like this:
“Yes sir, someone did steal your car and run over a puppy. As owner of the car they are suing you because you are the registered owner, and we would sue the company that made your car, but they have more money than us, so we can only kiss theyr S”
now its better, the middleman allways gets screwed…
what happened to “innocent until proven guilty”?
do we live in feudalism, but are to stupid to notice it?
Glad i dont live their!
LOL at Torrent Freak reporting on something being “biased”.
“what makes any of them think they are able to take away a persons legal rights? are they themselves above the law?”
Considering you pirates are ignoring an legal right and obviously think that you’re above the law, this statement is pretty hilarious…
I am, however, opposed to this law despite my scorn for you cheapskate freeloaders.
Because idiot #19, not everyone uses torrents for distributing copyrighted works.
That is why it’s biased.
@3-so you pull it back out of the toilet or trash can and do it again?
What a way to save money on toilet paper.
I hate IFPI.
#19, the legal right of innocent until proven guilty. the anti piracy gangs dont have the right to change that, regardless of whether they think they should have that right or not. just because someone is suspected of pirating, doesn’t mean they are doing so. if your car was involved in an accident but you weren’t driving, would you expect to be prosecuted by the police? wake up you idiot!!
Actually, since infringement is a civil infraction, the standard for conviction is merely “the preponderance of evidence”, not “innocent until proven beyond reasonable doubt.” That’s the criminal mandate and a much higher standard for conviction. But once digital piracy is reclassified criminal (and it will be) the standards of conviction will be higher and instead of negotiating a couple grand settlement and you are free to go, the punishments will be criminal in nature and permanent. That’s what’s coming up next.
Well if petitioning to the local politician doesn’t work (gee, wonder why when SOMEONE paid their campaign contributions) and they no longer represent “public interest” then the next best thing is to either run for office yourself or contribute to something productive..like (insert selfish spam-ad here…lol) http://www.opensourceg.com to help build proper representation for our society plauged by politicians who don’t properly represent “the people”
if corps matter more then people then something is wrong with the laws themselves.
if people can’t vote on laws then they shouldn’t be enforced as they don’t represent YOU.
same on voting out bad laws. just cause it’s already a law doesn’t mean you can’t exercise your RIGHT to vote out/push for law reforms.
ya it’s one animal eating another for profit here. the pirates win then the big media loses money. well if money is your only purpose in life then yer shallow.
love how people QUICKLY read through the BS to read “guilty untill proven innocent”. The states should also do the same and follow suit for human rights. that car anolgy was perfect. my car yet i didn’t drive it.
Also, encryption should be in place from your pc to the net. really suprized it has yet to mirror the torrent traffic. make it all p2p internet surfing. anyone /w broadband would LOVE a faster net by using everyone else’s net for access to anywhere instead of JUST torrents.
if tor were easy enough to setup for everyone then it’d prob catch on. enough laws like this and more will jump ship tho. arrr matey! we must use this stealth tech to avoid them squash buckling do gooders stoping us from getting our linux isos!
seriously tho, the people gotta stop looking “up” to govt to fix their problems. we all know they no longer represent us properly. look up to yourself each day, look down at companies pushing this kind of agenda for their gain and loss of your civil rights to make it happen.
“well sir, we fixed the clogged up courts, now we just make em all guilty”
“well done jonson, i smell raise”
“no sir, i farted, smells bout the same tho”
It’s really a kangaroo court system when they have infinitely more money to fund a prolonged fight against you. Showing up to court is then like showing up to a fight with mike tyson for the average joe, why bother?
Then if they lose they just buy new laws via lobbying and donations, such as seen here to ensure they can’t lose the same way again, ever tipping the scales. These tactis will only tighten our resolves though.
“To avoid this type of outcome in future cases, the IFPI wants to change the burden of proof so that instead of the rights holder having to prove that an individual engaged in piracy, it is up to the individual to prove that he didn’t and that the responsibility for infringement lies with a 3rd party.”
INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
its creazy the the IFPI thinks everyone is guilty untill proven innocent. It makes me sick to see how there trying to bend and distort people rights just to make even MORE cash.
If the film, music and software industry succeed, Restaurants and food industry will follow. Counting all the people not eating in the restaurant every day, cooking at home is «stealing money» from the restaurant, so this branch is also loosing billions every year. Making own clothes is giving the industry huge lost of profit every year. Having own vegetables in garden gives the supermarked huge problems and they loosing fictive billions …. When all this branches also start complaining people sharing food at home, stealing design of clothes, making own furniture or sharing a newspaper with the neighbours… When all this industries also telling the government they loosing billions every year of fictive money – the world will stop being a free place at all. YOU MUST BUY – BUY – BUY until you die…
Just some colors on a screen, some sound you can´t eat or wear – this industry is pretty arrogant about a cd or DVD in plastic – cost 1 $ for material and salary – and sales price is many 1000% in profit. No other industry make money that easy way, but this guys like to have 100% control on every little peace of sound we perhaps do not like at all and delete after short while – every brain death film we see probably just a part of, or every hopeless scrap of software – full of errors – they produce. The richest guy in the world produces software… He like to have MOOOORE ! And the shareholders too !
Categorical ridiculous – our rights in a democracy becoming less than in dictatorships around.
We must stop this before it is to late.
In my opinion it is actually stealing when you force someone to pay for a product of unknown quality. Most businesses run with smaller profit margins and give your money back if dissatisfied, even if you have consumed most of the product. These media companies offer no such deal. Hell, the local drug dealer will at least give you freebies at first.
For all those who like to say things such as “I’m glad I don’t live there!” Have a little patience, it will be in your relative countries soon. Either that or you educate just one other person about filesharing and how it is not a bad thing. Let them decide, most likely they will see how it is beneficial. If they don’t, well then no biggie, at least you got a message out there. Maybe one day the education will be received by enough politicians to make a difference.
Ignoring the “morality” of the issue, it amazes me that someone somewhere hasn’t started a campaign of *ahem* personal physical persuasion against some of these MAFIAA and government tools. Practically every government on Earth has even stopped trying to appear to do the work of the people and just kisses the a** of corporations right in public. Let’s just stop the farce of elections and go right to the corporate sponsership of politicians. They can wear the patches and stickers of their sponsers….like race car drivers! John Kennedy for President! Brought to you by Trojan Condoms. Trojans…when you want to bang a movie star in secret!
Denmark laws decide by IFPI = mafiAA = US
@ #31.
“In my opinion it is actually stealing when you force someone to pay for a product of unknown quality.”
Is some bad man forcing you to purchase entertainment product?
Tsk. Poor baby.
Do without, loser.
“If the film, music and software industry succeed, Restaurants and food industry will follow. Counting all the people not eating in the restaurant every day, cooking at home is «stealing money» from the restaurant…”
epic analogy fail.
“Just some colors on a screen, some sound you can´t eat or wear – this industry is pretty arrogant about a cd or DVD in plastic – cost 1 $ for material and salary – and sales price is many 1000% in profit.”
epic math fail.
$1 for material and salary? what does that even mean?
maybe you should just stick to not saying anything…
@Reasonless Mind
“Do without, loser.”
LOL.
Actually, paying for entertainment makes you the loser, literally. Especially in this economy.
Don’t be jealous, though. You can fileshare, too, or don’t you like saving your money for more important things in life than a bunch of shiny plastic discs?
Or are shiny plastic discs the most important thing in your sad, basement dwelling life?
*sigh*
I am danish, and I remember a time when living in Denmark, meant living in one of the worlds most free and solidary societies of the world. Well, that’s all gone now, obviusly, letting private lobby organisations like IFPI deciding law-implementations. We now have to look to EU to hope for reasoning and justice, used to be the other way around….
Thank you Anders Fogh Rasmussen and your rightwing, corporate loving goverment!! Well, aren’t you a hoot!!
- Pirates are Freedom Fighters!!
I blow goats
For those everywhere who think because they’re not a ‘pirate’ that they have nothing to worry about I would remind you of this poem from the second world war:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.
Rasmussen is an US agent, he did his job in Denmark and now he is returning to the family
doesnt opendns help for this block?
@42
It does indeed, takes about 30 sec to apply changes permanently to a router, and is totally legal. Which makes the block/law even more ridiculous..
If you live in Denmark, you can always Google for torrent files. That’s what I do. Google is the best torrent search engine, ever. No government (except maybe China) in the world will ever ban this behemoth.
As for an ISP’s having free reign to disconnect any internet user for alleged copyright infringement without any proof, they might as well log every visitor to Youtube. They’ll discover that nearly every internet user has viewed copyrighted content. This could mean losing perhaps 95% of it’s paying customers.
That would in turn can destroy every ISP in the country, cause thousands of people to lose their jobs, create a huge loss of tax revenue for the government, and so on. This would also stifle the creativity of artists that rely on the internet to get exposure because those people who use the internet to look up movies or music would never get the chance to see or hear about them.
Does anyone remember when the RIAA and MPAA wanted *ALL* usernames and the names of all files they’ve ever viewed? The RIAA and the MPAA are a very large threat, to themselves as well as those they earn money from.
If they can’t control the entire internet, they would prefer to have it destroyed. They would just love us to all go back to listening to AM radio, buying pieces of black vinyl records and 8-tracks tapes and watching black and white analog television. They would also love us to go back to sending letters through snail mail.
They are a threat to technology, but technology is here to stay. They can never stop us. They are the ones that need to go away and enjoy their AM radio and 8-track tapes.
I look forward to sending black roses to their funerals.
#38 – Please do some research.. You just sound ignorent when blaiming all bad things on the current government.
Danish copyright law is based on EU law and the current copyright law is from 1995 or when Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (Socialist party) was prime minister. There have been severel changes since, but most have been on the account of the changing EU laws that Denmark is required to implement.
Most political parties in Denmark is behind the current copyright law.
@40
a band called Anti Flag (found thru BT) did a song about that poem, great song one of my favorites.
everyone should give them a listen.
if its not on BT atm ill upload to tpb later today
Nr.36 Apr 11, 2009 at 06:21 by Anonymous:
epic math fail…?
I did work for a software company – the production price for a single disc was less than 1$ incl. all costs.
No epic math fail – this is a fact I know.
-
epic analogy fail…?
Only the Music – Movie and Software companies setting up this kind of account: one copy made by a pirate is less profit for the company.
When the rest of the business world is counting on the same way -> Food – clothes – furniture and all the stuff people are copying at home may
probably be next. This is much larger then just about a single file or music copy. This is about the general freedom of human being.
epic analogy fail…? Where ? The analogy is correct, discussed on a european conference. The branches are learning from each other…
I have more experience and knowledge about this issue than you ever will in your entire life. So just be anonymous and argue from this position.
Now this is based only on personal experiences. However most artist I know have been screwed over by the recording industry (especially big label recording industries). They get between 1 to 25 cents per CD, depending on their contract. They only make money when either A they sell lots of CDs (like substantial amounts), lets see you sell 1,000,000 CDs and you make 1 cent per cd, 10,000 dollars. Not that much. Most I know make money from tours, small time artist apply for grants from the government (unless the Tories rip out all the art funding) .
Also from the a greater stand point, nobody cares, governments are wasting their time with this, we have greater issues to worry about, not some mocking of a legal/goverment system that focuses on real issues.
Reasoned Mind is funny! He’s become almost like Torrentfreaks own troll-mascot, haha! :)
My guess is he’s propably paid by the **AA on an hourly basis (if it’s per Post, they are screwing you buddy!!), to create a “balanced” viewstand for new noob-readers of torrentfreak, so they will be aware of the MAFIAA’s stand on piracy.
He propably don’t even believe in what he’s writing, only it’s his job to do so.
Hmm, I was wrong. It’s not funny, it’s quite sad really…
I feel for you Reasoned Mind. Hope you find the strength to cast down your corporate chains one day, and become a x-troll!!! I belive in you, you can do it!!
@ Reasoned Ass,
“But once digital piracy is reclassified criminal (and it will be) the standards of conviction will be higher and instead of negotiating a couple grand settlement and you are free to go, the punishments will be criminal in nature and permanent. That’s what’s coming up next”
Clutching at straws much, so your a lawyer and a psychic now? Wow I’m impressed. The amount of time you spend here peddling drivel just proves how desperate and powerless you are. But thanks for coming here, we need someone to mock and make fun of :)
hmmm…
Goverment blames ISP, ISP blames useres, useres blames ISP, ISP blames Goverment….
Goverment = smart antipirateing or really bad
ISP = forced to block users for not taking the trash from users(pirat).
Users = guilty until proven innocent.. Poor Miss petersen!
what a bitch.
I am a dane.
The only thing I see is a trap for for users. The only way to get access to TPB is by force (changing proxy)and if they do they sure are guilty as charged.
Goverments problem is that they can’t blame the users of the excuses which is right, it is waaay too easy. So ISP gets it. Untill they blocked the sites. Now if the woman were to try to access TPB and changed the proxy… well use your imagination.
by the it’s just a thought, but it’s still a bitch.
PS sorry for my english
#46
Ehm.. copying
Food?
clothes?
furniture?
This is much larger then just about a single file or music copy.?
This is about the general freedom of human being.?
well… it’s true that the branches are learning from each other but copying but copying food, clothes and furniture? looks like someone have been smokeing the green stuff at the european conference and got a tad paranoid. i mean c’mon! i would rather pay £100 for a cheesburger at the restaurant, and you would se me dancing naked on the streets before even trying to buy copy made clothes. And don’t even make me start on the furniture.
What’s going on is just unavoidable.
just go with the flow or worry about child abuse, cancer, mysteries human mutation, drugs on the streets, children with guns at school and so on.. there is plenty to go around.
and with that is done and we have almost a perfect world, then maybe they could take down the TPB and stuff..
So what. Technology will be here to save us. Please I beg the danish government to follow the biding of IFPI or and even the courts do so please, that way we can really push encryption forward and so that no one can ever know what you are up to. Real privacy. Or use a overlay network. I dont care that it becomes more difficult to get (in IFPI eyes) illigal content for the averich person. Using technology has always been for those willing to spend the time to understand it.
And hey when the other countries follow suit, then they can just use the technology used in denmark to circumvent the laws.
control is an illustion, that IFPI doesn’t seem to understand!
my friends, technology is what saves us, not laws, what good have they ever done, than to give more power to the government and corporations.
People should also have a look at 3D printing machines. What happens when everyone can download a copy of a car on the internet, and then have the machine print it! for now this is science fiction, but when that time comes, what would the purpose of money bee when techonlogy can do everything.
I think its important to think in the larger scope here. Also the politician will lose voters by implementing stupid laws.
And I want you all to now, that im a dane, and I use technology to bypass governments stupid laws
@50
changing your DNS-server to f.ex OpenDNS, is NOT illegal! Neither is using a proxy or a VPN-tunnel.
Just think, why should it be illegal?! You’re not breaking any laws (yet!) by doing that…
@51
Get yourself educated, or you might as well start dancing…
It’s ignorants like you that put us in this sorry-ass situation in the first place…
WAKE UP FOOL. With the birth of the internet and the FREE flow of instant information, we got an incredible chance to create a nearperfect democracy!!
What IFPI (MAFIAA etc.) is doing, with the help of corrupt politicians, is killing the FREE internet!
If we let them succed, it’s back to oligarchy, totalitarianism, or at best, fake majority rule like we have it now in Denmark.
So what is it? Wonna go bare ass, or start making a difference and get yourself involved?
@Reasoned Mind
Sure, let them come. As the punishments increase in magnitude, as will the burden of proof on the plaintiffs. It’ll bring more of their nonsense to light and it’ll be laughed straight out of court.
Look at this!!!
It´s unbelivable!!!:D
http://www.youtupe-com-watch-2332-fsdkjfc-1223-11ds.inserat.in
@54
I think it is you who should get yourself educated and wake up fool!
I am more involved then you would ever undstand.
I see TPB not as an illegale sharing site, but as an enhanced knowledgebase, sharing from all over the globe (exchanging) music videos and more made me realize, if it was’nt for TPB i wouldn’t be watching japanes movies.
I bought manny movies and all kind of music from around the world after TPB, this “illegal” thing, is what i call investment, I don’t want to spend (waste) money on someting stupit. I simply see TPB as an financial suport, so that I don’t waste my mony and even better – use it on something I like to watch/listen.
I know by fare that i am not the only one is thniking this way.
NO ONE wants to own a riped album or a dvd, if they like it they WILL eventually by it!
Oh and BTW @54 i think you got the wrong idea about me.
@53
Yee i didn’t mention that it is not illigele to change you proxy og have a VPN tunnel or use openDNS to bypass the blocker-site DNS. YET!
But they only way the ISP is to get around the goverment is to block the sites, therefor, If a user get charged for haveing illigle mp3 or so, he/she can’t just say “i thought it was ok, becouse it was so easy” or something becouse it will backfire on here, when she bypassed the block on TPB.
Just a thougth :/^
sorry for my english
@39
Well said!
@39
Well said (and nice poem)! My thoughts exactly.
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