Downloading Stays Legal, No Site Blocking, Swiss Copyright Law Says (torrentfreak.com) 48
From a report: Switzerland's National Council has passed amendments aimed at modernizing the country's copyright law to make it more fit for the digital age. While services that host pirate sites or distribute content can expect a tougher ride moving forward, users will still be able to download pirate content for personal use. Furthermore, Swiss Internet service providers will not be required to prevent their customers accessing pirate sites.
Silly Summary (Score:5, Insightful)
The summary stopped right before the good part of TFA:
Furthermore, Swiss Internet service providers will not be required to prevent their customers accessing pirate sites.
...and they're doing this against the wishes of the USA. Can't wait to see more countries go against the USA's wishes.
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This is quite a contrast with Australia as well, isn't it?
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Re:Silly Summary (Score:5, Interesting)
Swiss here. I'm flabberghasted that they actually upheld our rights for once.
Don't be too impressed. There's a lot of shit going wrong in Switzerland. We're not at all better than other countries.
Re:Silly Summary (Score:5, Funny)
Like the holes in your cheese, for example.
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Yeah, that is a shame. I buy a pound of cheese and get a pound of holes :(
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ProtonMail is not required to store communications metadata or IP information, as we are exempted under the Swiss Federal Act on the Surveillance of Post and Telecommunications (BÜPF) and its accompanying ordinance.
The reason for being exempt is because the full BÜPF regulation is only applied to very big providers [admin.ch].
Der Bundesrat hat sich bewusst für einen KMU-Schutz entschieden. Die neue Verordnung nimmt deshalb von den rund 600 Unternehmen künftig voraussichtlich nur noch ein paar Dutzend voll in die Pflicht, und zwar die Grossen (ab 100 Mio. Jahresumsatz).
Translation:
The Federal Council has deliberately opted to protect SMEs. The new regulation will only be applied to a few dozen of the approximately 600 providers, namely the large ones (with more than 100 million annual revenues).
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The Swiss law imposes data retention, but it basically applies only to metadata (when, with whom, for how long a communication was made, but not the content). It also very strictly regulates in which cases the information can be accessed.
The US law doesn't considers metadata as actual "data", so data protection regulations don't even apply to this kind of information. Private providers don't have to comply with compulsory data retention but in practice... which provider doesn't retain data?
Re:Silly Summary (Score:5, Insightful)
Brother, there's a lot going wrong in the whole world. But at least the Swiss have something going right.
We're not at all better than other countries.
...said the Swiss guy, in English, to a bunch of folks that didn't bother to learn any of the languages native to Switzerland.
Thanks for posting in English.
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Ja, jeg har hørt om google translate. C'est très utile. Ciò che è più utile, è esprimere l'amore, piuttosto che odiare. In Hass war Hitler gut. Eti mai bun decât Hitler.
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I learned French at school.
and when I went to Germany, nobody spoke French, they spoke English though.
And when I went to Denmark, nobody expected me to speak Danish (only Danes do) and none spoke French but they all spoke English.
And when I went to Lithuania, nobody spoke French, some spoke Russian but most spoke English.
And when I went to France.. they all spoke French too fast for me to understand.
Its easy for people in most countries to choose a second language - its English. Unless you're a native Engli
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That’s a bit of a cop out. I’m an American who studied Spanish literature at one point (my skills in that language have since degraded), and I can tell you that Spanish is a very common language around the world.
I also lived in Switzerland for a dozen years and speak fluent German, with an understanding of many dialects. There, many people’s second language was either French, German or Italian - you know, one of the other official languages of the country. English was often the third.
I cur
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I am an introvert computer geek Croatian Australian and I only learned sufficient Croatian to order food and drink and swear, nothing as satisfying as swearing in Croatian the insults are just so, well, over the top and satisfying. I found other languages to be far more useful, like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org], I learned so many over the decades I got really bad at them all.
When downloading you have no legal responsibility, not even if it is actual criminal content (it is criminal if you keep it and d
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Let me summarize what you said in a way that will leave you with the same impression that I'm left with...
I learned French at school.
I went to countries that don't have French-speaking people, so I had to fall back on the only other language that I know - English.
I went to France, but I don't actually speak French well, so I had to fall back on the only other language that I know - English.
People in other countries learn English, and I am not thankful at all.
I went to India and learned to speak Tamil. I didn't speak it very well, certainly not fluent to any degree. But whenever I spoke it to the locals, they were sooo happy and thanked me for speaking their language. They taught me so well.
Re: Silly Summary (Score:2)
But my hovercraft is full of eels!
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Swiss here. I'm flabberghasted that they actually upheld our rights for once.
Don't be too impressed. There's a lot of shit going wrong in Switzerland. We're not at all better than other countries.
Oh please... don't undersell your country. I did my studies in Switzerland, so I know quite some of its ups and downs. There's many places a lot less palatable than the Confoederatio Helvetica. And the landscape is just great. I'd visit much more often if the place weren't quite that expensive...
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Oh I am well aware that whe have a lot of good qualities, but we're also squandering many of them.
To be honest, I'd love to find the perfect mix between Switzerland's (past) neutrality and independence, America's freedom (although I define that differently than most will assume) and Germany's social nets (although I'd restrict those just a tad bit. Not much, but a bit).
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We're getting there. (Score:2)
The EU top puppets started to, for the very first time, say no to the US leadership*, around this summer. As a direct result of Trump's behavior.
The question is, if they actually aquired balls, or were just told by their industry owners to oppose him.
OK, not a question. They don't have any mounting sockets for balls or a spine.
_ _ _
* Please don't just say $country. Most people in the US had no choice. Trump or Hillary is not a choice. Like pest and cholera.
Re:We're getting there. (Score:4, Funny)
Colorful imagery, but I would suggest you take a quick look at an anatomy textbook if you believe either spines or testicles attach to sockets.
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As people fall for that excuse, hook, like and sinker.
Maybe a typo, but I'd hate for it to spread to those that don't think about what they say...
It's "Hook, line and sinker". This expression, first recorded in 1865, alludes to a fish swallowing not only the baited hook but the leaden sinker and the entire fishing line between them.
Lol. Yes, it was a typo. (Score:1)
My motor control is no the best anymore, especially together with a stupid touch screen, and no preview function.
(Somehow I can't see typos, unless they are displayed in another style, as in a preview.)
Re:Stealing: still legal! (Score:5, Informative)
copyright violation isn't stealing though. For most of human history a song could be resung, a story retold. In most cases copying is failure to pay some parasite middleman who had congressmen in his pocket to extend the copyright law to absurd lengths of time, contrary to the original intent of letting things go into the public domain and become part of culture in less than a generation.
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(oh, I can't answer the phone because Dominoes is faxing me a pizza right now)
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You wouldn't illegally download an automobile would you?
Nope, since downloading is legal. I would however illegally upload one.
Swiss VPNs (Score:3)
I expect to see a massive upsurge in VPN providers offering Swiss end-points.
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Doesn't work that way. Instead, since downloading is legal in Switzerland, all those sites will just block Swiss IP addresses. It'll be the other way around and Swiss people will use a VPN to pretend they aren't Swiss. Then when they get sued or accused, they'll say, "Surprise, I'm Swiss...sucker."
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I guess the swiss have their own download sites or just use the same as the germans, some where from xyz.tv or yxz.to.
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The part about "Uploading has always been outlawed and that aspect has not changed."
P2P that never does the uploading "P" part?
Usenet?
FTP?