The key problem is that copyright infringement by a private individual is regarded by the court as something so serious that it negates the right to privacy. It’s a sign of the twisted values that copyright has succeeded on imposing on many legal systems. It equates the mere copying of a digital file with serious crimes that merit a prison sentence, an evident absurdity.

This is a good example of how copyright’s continuing obsession with ownership and control of digital material is warping the entire legal system in the EU. What was supposed to be simply a fair way of rewarding creators has resulted in a monstrous system of routine government surveillance carried out on hundreds of millions of innocent people just in case they copy a digital file.

  • thetreesaysbark
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    5 months ago

    I’d argue that it’s naive to think we can ever think non-individually as a species. Maybe I’ve just become cynical as I’ve aged and experienced though, not to say you haven’t also experienced - more that, if you have, your experiences have clearly been very different to my own.