DMCA-Alikes Sweep Europe

D4C5CE writes "The number of European countries enacting their ignorance of the sad experiences from Four Years under the DMCA has just risen to 5, as the Upper House (Bundesrat, incidentally) of the German Parliament on Friday failed to veto (sorry, some press releases are only available in heavily spin-doctored German Legalese at this point in time) and is hence considered to have consented to the adoption by the Lower House (Bundestag) of a federal law implementing the dreaded DMCA's European sibling known as EU Copyright Directive 2001/29/EC." Read on for more on the copyright laws being considered around the EU.

D4C5CE continues: "Earlier implementations have been reported from Austria, Denmark, Greece and Italy.
Legal scholars consider the directive itself an invalid "monstrosity", and the German law unconstitutional. In fact, this legislation is viewed as so terribly awful that even from the U.S., the EFF tried to prevent it in a rare intervention overseas.

Declaring that the circumvention rather than the use of Copy Protection is a Crime, the German parliament threatens to make things even worse by adopting a "second stage" with further steps to impose DRM and additional levies later this year, but unsurprisingly, all of the issues that DMCA-style laws have become notorious for are already there: Overbreadth, overprotection of technical measures, and Chilling Effects aplenty.

Record companies eagerly awaiting this "lex Bertelsmann" have already caused ISPs to send out warning letters to P2P users for alleged copyright infringement, and are expected to take legal action against individual users of file-sharing networks, following in the footsteps of RIAA.

Confirming the fears expressed by Alan Cox on Slashdot, computer gurus will soon find no place left to go even on the European side of the pond, and the Free-X "Independence Day" XBox exploit posted by one brave German just in time before this dismal day may well have been one of the very last legal disclosures in this part of the world as well."

Say it together now....

Ich bin ein Evil Pawn of Hillary Rosen.

Not Ignorance

The number of European countries enacting their ignorance..

No, it is not ignorance, it is Corporate Control. And don't fool yourself, both left and right alike are controlled by corporations, in almost every country.

Re:Not Ignorance

I completely agree with you. The FFII [ffii.org] unfortunately didn't exist yet when this directive went through the European Parliament and there was (almost?) no organised lobbying or protest. Now the FFII does exist however and is actively working on preventing software patents from being legalised in Europe.

I personally went to the EP for 3 days last week and there really are an incredible amount of MEPs who did not have any idea at all about how bad the current proposal is and who became quite supportive of us after we explained the situation to them. Informing politicians is not the job of the media, but largely of their assistants. Informing the assistants is a job of lobbying groups and individuals.

If you don't contact any politicians or their assistants, you cannot expect them to hear your concerns (although it would be really nice, of course). They vote on about 60 dossiers per week in the EP, so they just don't have the time to go actively looking for information about each and every one of those. Each party has its own specialist for different subjects. The specialists from each faction then create a voting list together, which more often than not is followed blindly by the rest of the faction (since they don't know anything about the dossier).

This is obviously not an ideal situation, since those specialists often have an agenda to push. So informing as many politicians as possible about your point of view is indeed what is necessary. Some will refer you to their local specialist, but most certainly not all of them.

too far

WOW. This is too far even for me. I've posted several times on Slashdot in favor of limited DRM, simply out of concern for artists, but from the links the submitter provided, it's obvious the EU has gone too far. Check the "EU Copyright Directive Link".

Violation or

suspected violation of international copyright may result in a fine of 2,000 Euros, or imprisionment of a term not to exceed nine months.

Look, I'm all for digital rights, but that's going too far. Jail time? Maybe an overnight stay with Bubba in cell block 3 will convince some college student that piracy is wrong, but this is too much. Ruining somebody's life because they didn't pay Sir Mixalot for downloading "baby got back?" Damn, that's harsh! And I thought Europe would be more enlightened than that. Oh well...just goes to show you...no place is safe these days.

The court of the Sun King is now in Brussels....

Sorry, the EU now ruled from Brussels/Strasburg. The commission and the parliamentarians are now surrounded by corporate lobbying groups - much like the nobles in the royal courts of old.

The one thing about the Berlesconi incident (another publisher with alleged crooked links) is that it did prove that there is some life in the Parliament.

don't worry everyone

It's only laws being passed. Sure it might suck for a while, but ultimately we have the power to fight these laws no matter what they come up with.
It's like they say, never, ever, piss off your system admin

The root cause ?

Don't forget it's mostly because of the US (and US companies) pressuring Europe into their legislation.

Re:The root cause ?

That's not true, it's the spineless ignorant European politicians that don't stand up to these companies because they are afraid of the wrath of America. When will the EU learn that Europe is a huge continent with a very important market that could have a significant impact on world politics and economics if only they stopped arguing about petty little things and concentrate on important things for once?

No, it's competition, but the downside.

My brother predicted this, about 4 years back. Essentially, he said that America had been the vanguard (note the past-perfect tense) of justice; this made American business more profitable, and meant that if other countries wanted to keep up, they had to have some reasonable fraction of the same kind of justice.

But as our ignoring the constitution accelerated, it became clear that American justice was not functioning properly, and American business immediately began to hurt. So my brother saw that this was going to happen [remember, 4 years ago we were still in the boom], and predicted that we would see petty dictatorships rise everywhere. Indeed, it happens.

Oh, well. It is indeed a sad day. Europe had the chance to become the leader of justice, and indeed when Lithuania was considering entering, I considered it more of an advantage than a disadvantage, provided that there was good will.

After all, more free trade is better than less free trade. More natural rights is better than more granted rights. Better for the economy, better for the human condition, better, even, for morality.

It seemed there was more of all that. Now I begin to wonder.

What about the European supporters?

No question the US government companies have backed such legislation. But there are many large European companies that also back this legislation. To blame the US and only the US is naive. Take for example one of the world's biggest media companies, Vivendi-Universal, its a French company. Or Murdoch and his media conglomerate, he's an Australian...

Re:The root cause ?

Nope, it's European companies whining "*sniff*Want that too, *cry*moving to the US otherwise, *dissolving in tears* thousands of jobs lost.

The next day they have their legislation because noone seems to realize that the corporations would have at least as much to lose as the countries they'd leave

Lack of coverage

One of the main reasons that the DMCA has caused so little controversy in mainstream American society (no, Slashdot is not mainstream) is that the conventional media has pretty much refused to cover it.

I'm just curious but have any Slashdot readers from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Greece, or Italy noticed any significant coverage in the media of these euro-DMCA laws? Also, what does the local reaction seem to be? Do most people know enough about the issues to care?

Does not matter

In the end it doesn't matter whether this or that member state of the EU adopts the law. Three years after the directive is adopted it is justiciable in the European Court of Justice and states which haven't implemented it in domestic law can be taken to court and their domestic courts have to follow the precedent set by the ECJ.

Is anyone surprised?

Does this really surprise anyone? Most people don't care about the issues in general, much less this one. Those who do care, and try to be vocal about it are simply paid no attention to by our governments, no matter what the nationality. We're slowly losing the ability to control what we do with our technology, our knowledge, and our lives. I keep waiting for something to give, for that final straw where more than just a few of us stand up and say 'No More!' but it hasn't happened. I fear it won't happen in my life time.

no more MP3 players

[article]"6.1 Makes it illegal to circumvent a protection measure. Note that there is no requirement to show that the person who does the circumvention did it in order to infringe copyright law. Circumventing for the sake of making a copy of a music file you have bought in order to listen to it on your portable MP3 player is just as illegal as circumventing in order to put the music on Napster."

whats the point of creating technology that plays compressed music files to enable us to carry around loads of our (paid for) music in a small package if they make it illegal. the whole idea was to make it easy to listen to all of my CD's anywhere without a huge CD wallet bulging at the seams. the napster phenomenon was a different issue totaly, but now it's twisting MP3's from the beautiful thing they were, to a taboo that can land you in jail.

it's not the technology's fault, it's the users fault. guns don't kill people, people kill people - right? well, MP3 players don't steal MP3's. if i can no longer rip MY CD's and upload them to MY player without pissing off some litigator somewhere, then -- F*#% the bozos.

MP3s are a German invention too

This is particularly a shame because the inventor of the MP3 was the Fraunhofer Institute [fraunhofer.de] in Germany, a publicly funded research institute.

MP3 players are popular in Germany, particularly now for cars (MP3/CD) where the compression means you don't need large and inconvenient changers.

Bertelsmann are big though and control distribution rights for both souznd and video products in Germany. They have been lobbying for the implementation of this rule.

However, the real problem is that it is an EU directive. Unless countries can prove a get out under subsidiarity, they must implement the directives or risk a large fine.

The other problem is the multi-region DVD players on sale. This will certainly stop under this technical measures clause. Shame for all those people who want to look at non-region 2 DVDs, for example that large immigrant population from the former Soviet Union.

Because the US says so....

We (the USA) produce most of the world's copyrighted material, and we give out billions of dollars each year to other countries for free. If we want them to pass a law that favors us, they will all do it. They have little choice. If we decide applejuice needs to be outlawed, we'll get (via bribes and threats) every country in the world to outlaw it. What the US wants, it gets. As an American, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Were we wanting rational things, I suppose I'd be somewhat happy and maybe even a bit proud (in an egocentric sorta way).

Anyway, that's all this is. Sorta like drug laws. We want it to be illegal, so we'll pay for everyone else to make it illegal. End of story.

Why the waste of bandwidth?

Looking at the comments that have been posted so far, most appear to be around the "America vs Europe" contest that is ongoing on Slashdot, or "Who do we blame for this?" along with the usually lame trolls.

How about instead, people put some thought into the possibilities of beating some sort of system and what the actual outcome of such regulation would be? There are a lot of clever people in this community and occasionally it's nice to hear what one of them has to say.

1. Will it just be the large coporates who put out DRM protecred media meaing that people who do not get the share of the consumers wallet.

2. Is this going to be like prohibition in the '20s where speakeasy joints for music trading spring up around the world.

3. How practical is it to build an encrypted freenet or something entirely separate from the regular 'Internet' which would allow a sort haven from this type of legislation?

4. Will we just end up as a fractional online society where certain geographical areas of the world (Far East, emerging African states) continue to pump out copies by the ton?

Anyone care to put in a serious comment?

Nah! This is /. after all...

What an amazing mess.

I found the magic pot-o-gold, and the lepercons don't want me to tell you about. So what they are going to do is sue me and then the press will have a hay-day. Then everyone will know there's a pot-o-gold and go after it. I must say this napster(the beginning and being continued with p2p) thing looks alot like that. Instead of inticing us with things such as, lower price's, offering extras (for example a free watch with a album named time) not using the money given to them to alienate their customers. But instead they choose to be gready... now look at the mess they are in.

It is not only the EuroDMCA...

The EU Copyright Directive is not the only worry. EU is also considering IPR Enforcement Directive which would add even more DMCA-like protections to technical measures. IPR Enforcement Directive would also introduce a "conviction of shame": if you are found guilty of rights infringment you must publish the judgement in a publication chosen by the rights owner at your own cost. See a statement by Electronic Frontier Finland [effi.org] on the proposed directive.

(For what it is worth, the Finnish parliament did not pass the national implementation of the EU Copyright Directive [effi.org].)

Re:It is not only the EuroDMCA...

I remember hearing a BBC article on the difference betwee the Finnish and British governments. You (yes, you, Joe Public, even Joe Foreigner) can just walk in off the street to the residence of the Finnish Prime Minister, and ask to see any government related document. And they don't peer at you in a suspicious manner and tell you they'll get back to you in two years after checking your security clearance, they smile and fetch it straight away, and get you coffee while you're waiting. For example, they fetched some of the personal correspondance between Tony Blair and the Finnish Prime Minister, the actual original letters, and just handed them over, no questions, no bullshit.

Contrast with asking for copies of the same correspondance in the UK. The UK Freedom of Information act gives you every right to see them, but when the BBC asked for them, they were given the run around, passed from department to department in Whitehall, each one of which expressed amazement that anyone would ask for this. They were eventually fobbed off by being told that such correspondance was classified, too secret to be seen. They said that they'd already seen it, and that it talked mostly about football. This produced outright disbelief, and vague threats about carrying out "further investigation" on the reporter.

I think that sums up the spectrum in Europe. In some places, there is a genuine openness and willingness to trust Joe Public. In others, the citizen is treated with suspicion and disdain.

My hope is that we move towards the Finnish position. My fear is that we'll all end up more like Britain.

Didn't learn?

I'd say they learned all too well from our experience with the DMCA. Our opinion of the DMCA means nothing to those in power, nor to those pushing for DMCA-like laws. I know it will come as a big surprise, but none of the copyright holders nor politicians have been intimidated by a bunch of whiners on /.

This is exactly what the copyright holders want, and is exactly what the copyright holders' donations bought them.

When I read and discuss this here, I'm unable to imagine how the DMCA and its ilk continue getting support. But then I leave my house and talk to ordinary people, and they have no idea what the DMCA is nor how it impacts them. And, amazingly, if they do know they usually parrot some of the "pirating is bad" BS they hear in the press.

You'll be surprised, but millions will probably actually be intimidated by the upcoming prosecutions by the RIAA of individuals downloading music, and they will stop. Remember, these are the same Average Joes that believe Microsoft can track their email and Bill Gates will send them thousands of dollars for forwarding chain letters.

Countries became prosperous...

... based on systematic intellectual property violations, reverse engineering and circumvention, take your peak, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, you name it. I guess they will put themselves behind those laws and continue to surf the wave. It's not the developed countries I am so concerned about, it is the enormous technology gap that will continue to grow between those countries and the less fortunate ones.

A brilliant idea

I just had the greatest idea. The law states that you get up to nine months in prison for violation, right?

Okay, everyone in Germany needs to turn themselves in for... oh, say, copying a CD that had some sort of protection on it. I can't wait to see the innovations they come up with for storing five million new pale and obese felons.

Australia has one too...

Even tech literate Aussies don't seem to know this, but we already adopted our own DMCA-alike.

See here [gigalaw.com] for details.

America and Europe .. two sides of the same pond?

At the risk of being modded Flamebait... it does appear that both continents are inevitably compelled to act similarly. Instances - Iraq, NATO, DMCA, MS anti-trust case etc.. Presently the US seems to have the upper hand, in that it can act more independently, and care less about repercussions from pissing off own citizens...

OTOH, Europe adopting this attitude (London traffic monitoring, inaction against Corporations, resistance to Euro, etc..) is sickening, given it's history and respect to tradition. LinuxTAGs moves against SCO is the only bright spot so far.

IT won't make a difference

I am living in the UK. I went on Saturday down to my local markets and bougth from a stall in plain view of everyone Terminator 3 (really naff btw), charlies angels and dark blue. The police here don't even enforce current copyright laws. What a joke!!

What can we do?

In reality, mostly nothing. The goverments don't seem to care about its citizens. I've tried contacting mine (sweden) and all I know is that someone opened it (since their email client respected my request for read receipt) but nothing more.

And EU is a lot worse ... Just look at the software patent issue. Apparently the EU body that is working on devising such things don't care about the input from the people for whom they are creating the laws.

It stinks...

But, as some has said here, it doesn't really matter (yet) since the police does have more important things to do. However, that doesn't stop the businessindustries own "police" (RIAA, BSA, etc etc etc) to act on their own, with or without apparent support of the law.

Them or us ?

Let's face it; there is no "them or us".
If internet has done /anything/ it is showing people of different backgrounds that we're pretty much alike. I, like you undoubtedly, have met people from all over the world, chatted with them a bit, and wondered where all there "misunderstandings" like that cold-war came from, since they're not that different from me.
What gives birth to these "misunderstandings" is "them or us" thinking. It breeds fear, and promotes the wrong kind of people into power.

If slashdot shows anything, it's that there are "likeminded" people in almost every country in the world. Some more agreeable, some less, but all in all it shows, that no matter how much we /want/ to be different, we aren't all that different at all.

Perhaps one day the ideal of a global village will become truth, a village where everyone realizes that everybody is somebodies direct neightbour, and there is no such thing as "our" freedom, or "their" freedom, but only freedom of "the people". If such a thing ever is to happen, it's seeds are sown now, where you can converse with people all over the planet, and see for yourself that you can like someone in Taiwan even better then your real life neighbour.
To see this idea bloom is the main reason for free speech and digital freedom, and is far more important then copying some music and the (loss of) riches associated with that.

I write this as a fervent anti-USA fanboy, because I don't like what your country does (promote horrid fast-food chains, promote dumb commercial television/channels, spread the belief that once you have a lot of money it doesn't matter how you got it, and overpromoted godawfull pop-music). But never be mistaken that you (if you're an american) and I could sit down ,person to person ,and have a normal conversation about just about everything. Sure there would be disagreement, but that's ok, but I think there would also be alot of things we would agree on, since it's a lot harder to severely dislike a person then an objectified country and everything it supposedly stands for.
If your somewhat Free software inclined, I would probably agree more with you then one of my fellow countrymen, who wouldn't know eroding freedom if it jumped up and bit him in the ass.

All this "them or us" thinking leads to one thing, and that's FUD on a national level. Only when a large part of the populations are capable of thinking and making decisions for themselves, and will not buy into demonization of other countries (I'm not talking about *BSD evangelisation here), will true freedom for all be feasible.
So next time when a headline tells about eroding freedoms, don't think "well, at least it's not 'us' that have to worry about that, let 'them' worry", ultimately it's 'our' freedom it's about, whether you like it our not.

And always remember,
"Bad facts make bad laws"

New Dutch copy laws

Here's another one for you... Our company (0 employees, no xerox) recently got a bill for 45 euro's for "an estimated number of copies made of copy-protected work". Seems like some Dutch organisation is now capable on sending these bills on behalf of ...yeah, of who?

My "company" helps starting artists to get a visible spot on the web to showcase and sell their art. So if there's any organisation that should be on the receiving side of this law, it should be ours. However, the information only goes as far as that we're supposed to either pay or complain.

It is very unclear who benefits from this, but it immediately reminded me of American music industry lobby practices. Luckily for us, this stupid law didn't apply to other forms of copy than "xerox". I'm still pretty stupified by the fact that this law could just exist in Holland, and in fact I'm still trying to forget this.

Stupid Americans and their DMCA

er... oops.

i wouldn't worry about it

due to the eu the next world war (or should it now be called a 'civil war') will take place. i`m guessing within the next 2 decades. seeing as when a country joins the eu they're going to be bound by a constitution meaning they cannot EVER leave the eu. which means the eu can only break apart when either ALL countries agree (not gunna happen) or if there's a war, which there will be.

the eu is a big dictatorship in the making, they're taking over countries with a "one size fits all" attitude, with disreguard for national identity, suddenly everyone is "european" not "german", "french" or "belgian" etc.

the eu should be one thing, a free-trade market. that's what these countries signed up for, and suddenly they're being told they're going to be one big federal state like the US. they're making the EU into a single country through the back door.

every couple of days i see a new law being passed or proposed by the eu which restricts peoples rights, it's the exact opposite of the US - the us was for freedom for the ppl, the EU is freedom for the politicians.

you only have to look at the laws proposed by the EU to see how bad it is, regardless of whether or not they're passed, the fact that EU politicians want to have a common foreign policy etc shows just how disgusting this is.

the norwegians aren't being pushed into cos they have a source of finance, same with lichenstein, i think switzerland along with great britain aren't swallowing their shit.

this will end in tears, it will end in a war, maybe before then it'll end in a US - EU cold-war II situation.

The DMCA will never reach outside the US

I seem to remember non-Americans stating right here on Slashdot that the DMCA was a US problem, because nothing like that would ever pass on their shores. They would never stand for it!

Well, let's see it Europeans.

I was really hoping you were right.

Jebus f'ing christ -- ITS THE WTO!

Do you know that the DMCA is the result of a treaty passed by the WIPO (itself a cousin of WTO)? When you see people, protesting in the streets to end the WTO treaties -- THE DMCA IS JUST ONE UNDEMOCRATIC, ANTI-CITIZEN products of the WTO!!

For all the times on /. ive posted this link, and other bits that let people know exactly where the DMCA is coming from -- no one seems to put two and two together.

Please read below:anti-dmca.org/faq_local.html [anti-dmca.org]

For the Pro-public domain crowd at /., who dont support overbearing copyright law, do you realize, that the people who are protesting in the streets -- the world over -- against the WTO are on your side ? This /. crowd, being very in-tune with IP and Technology are just one small group, angry and frustrated with the DMCA. The DMCA is a PRODUCT of un-democratic bodies like the WTO -- literally funded by massive multi-nationals -- who are re-writing international relations in order to entrench their power. The DMCA is just ONE MINOR aspect of this effort.

The USA's corrupt, plutocratic government is only partly responsible for the DMCA, in reality, they have empowered the bureaucracy to take their weight and allow it to be wielded by the Lobbyists and Lawyers of International Capitalists.

It doesnt matter if you think Im a crazed (i am not) anti-capitalist (i am), the reality is that Corporate Bodies are very literally writing international treaties, that are later enforced in the domestically in the USA, Canada, Australia, EU etc etc etc. The WTO is staffed / funded by the International Plutocrats... * THEY * are responsible for the DMCA -- your corrupt Congress is only an after-thought in the DMCA effort.. and all the rest.

Europe: Stand up to the US and WTO.

I'm a US citizen, and I do not like seeing this happen in other countries.

Other countries need to stand up to the United States and the WTO, and say "no." I'm sure most people in Europe do not want Europe to become exactly like the United States.

Tell your politicians that you do not want the European Union to turn into the "United States East," which it is slowly (maybe not so slowly anymore) becoming.

This "DMCA in Europe" is likely being pushed through by the WTO, which seems to serve the interests of giant corps who would like nothing more than to see Europe turn into a mirror of what the US has become.

I was rather refreshed to see France stand up and say "NO" to Bush on Iraq. I'd enjoy it even more if other countries in Europe started following suit and saying "NO" to the US and US-Style legislation.

Crap like the DMCA is bad enough in the US. It doesn't need to go overseas.

Why DMCA must be attacked in the USA

The real guage of the success of the DMCA will be in the USA. If it rises in the USA, there will effectively be economic pressures to make it rise everywhere - if it fails in the USA it the same pressures will cause it to fail everywhere. The reason for this is simple - the US was the first to get a tase of the information age, and was the first to feel the heat from copyrights effectively becoming unenforcable.

Who is the bigger fool...

The fool, or the fool who follows him?

That's the last straw

I've had enough of draconian legislation that infringes on my rights online. I'm moving to Europe!

Oh...wait...

The EUCD, EU enlargement and DVD region codes

On May 1st 2004, the three Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will join the European Union (EU). These countries, as former USSR republics, belong to DVD region 4, while all the other members in 2004 will belong to DVD region 2.

From the very beginning, the EU has been about the creation of a single market and the removal of internal barriers against the circulation of people, goods, services, and capital. So if a good is legally in the EU, it is free to move anywhere within the EU without any restriction.

What will happen with DVDs? Manufacturers of DVD players are supposed to sell their products only in the area covered by the applicable region code. The same goes for the disks themselves. Thus manufacturers will try to prevent the free circulation of goods (DVD and players) between the Baltic countries and the other members, because these countries are in another DVD region.

Isn't that likely to render the DVD region coding scheme simply illegal under the EU internal market rules, since it amounts to voluntary fragmentation of EU markets? And if so, won't the circumvention of the region code, illegal under the EUCD, be authorised because the region coding itself would be illegal?

DMCA in Canada?

Anyone have any status of DMCA like laws here in Canada?

You people just dont get it.

We have lost. Its just a matter of cleaning up the mess.

The rights of the people are pretty much gone. While we believe some still exist, that is only because we either have not noticed, or 'they' haven't decided to remove them officially.

Its all down hill from here. If more people would have stood up when it mattered we might not be in this boat now, on the river to total control.

Vote with the wallet

The German DMCA replica has one little positive aspect: copy-protected media MUST be labeled as such. This means, it must be visible to the purchaser BEFORE opening the package or breaking the seal that the CD/DVD/whatever has copy protection.

Therefore, it is easier now to refuse buying crappy products. Of course, this helps only if you are not so spineless as to let the big media companies force copy protection down your throat. Be an educated customer, or you get what you deserve!

A portion of our show we call ... "Whaaaaaa?"

The number of European countries enacting their ignorance of the sad experiences from Four Years under the DMCA

I've read this about three times, and I still don't understand how what it says is supposed to connect with what it's trying to say.

Re:DMCA Sux

the dmca is just a thorn. if you wanna be concerned, take a looksee at the grandaddy of intellectual property agreements the world trade organization's trade-related intellectual property rights (trips) schedule [wto.org].

read up on it. there will come a time when your petty national law will be overridden by the unelected, unaccountable wto... and then the dmca might look good.

Re:DMCA Sux

By "... it should burn. Along with any Bill ... to do ... with technology" , am I right in assuming you include Mr. Gates?

Re:Attention

This is a wake up call all you Europe fan-boys who piss and moan about the United States:
There's no safe-haven in the world from this type of B.S., face it. America ain't so bad.

You've got that backwards. This is fodder for people who piss and moan about the united states. These type of laws were pioneered in the US, and it is (to a large degree) US interests that have helped to push these laws overseas.

The US has, in the past, threatened to walk out of international talks because other participants refused to consider the implementation of DMCA-esque laws.

I am sorry but how could this be modded funny ?

This is more or less a flamebait of the most transparent form. Mode me troll if you wish, but moderator, most of the time on slashdot I see post on how EU has less liberty than US because of free pseech law. And now that ? Get real. This isn't funny at ALL. Even with a bad humor you should not find this flame bait funny.

Please, grow up

Yeah, criticise aepervius's poor spelling. Let him know how badly it "suxx".

Apart from the US spelling of "humor" the only mispelt word in his entire post is the typo of "speech". Granted, his grammar might not be perfect but, as English most probably isn't his first language, that's excusable.

I'd like to see your French, German or Spanish grammar stand up to a rigorous inspection but I doubt that you're able to speak any foreign languages at all.

Stop being a petty little man and grow up.

Re:I am sorry but how could this be modded funny ?

insanely high taxes,

Between 21% and 40% for the majority of the population. Maybe not insanely low, but not insanely high.

communist health care

The right to free health care is a bad thing?

no right to bear arms

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"

This is not necessarily the right to private ownership of arms - it can be argued this is the right for the state to have an armed militia (normally called an Army!). Not everyone views gun ownership as a good thing anyway.

forced conscription

National Service dropped in 1962 I believe.

unbelievable regulation of motor vehicles and communications

I am informed by friends in California that vehicles over here would be regulated off the roads there. Communications is as open as in the US.

rampant trade protectionism

No more and no less than in the US. That's why there are regular "trade wars" between US and European industries - you protect yours, we protect ours...

and now europe's getting its own DMCA

Sadly it looks like this may be the case. But guess which nation much of the lobbying is coming from.

Re:Oh well

Oh even with the EUCD in place we have a lot more freedom (and better democrazy) in most of Europe than in the states. It's amazing how many americans don't realise that just because _you_ have a constitution and a bill of rights doesn't mean that no one else has equivalents - or that they might be implemented better for the citizens ..

(I mean, most of what you have is based on what France had/has .. )

Re:alternative to light-red/green coalition...

Copyright protection == state control == communism.

Don't you think they have copyrights in, say, Cuba?

Re:Oh well

Hahaha, we have freedom still in 66.7% of EU!! How's that for freedom!

And how do you know you still have freedom in 66.7% of the EU? The little man behind the camera on the streetcorner told you so? Or the unelected Eurocrat in Brussels? :P~~~~~~~

Derek

Re:WTO...

Yes, they do. Because they claim to be protesting 'against globalization', which is such a wishy washy phrase, no wonder nobody listens to them. Now they have a list of damn good reasons to hate the WTO, maybe they could start producing some when asked by journalists.