AfterDawn: News

Finland adopts EUCD

Finnish Parliament approved today a controversial new copyright legislation, based on European Union's Copyright Directive (EUCD). The legislation sparked enormous opposition from worried citizens, but despite the public critique even in mainstream media, the parties currently in coalition government decided to approve the legislation without further modifications.

Legislation has several confusing details and extremely badly worded chapters, making it one of the most draconian versions of EUCD in Europe. Once Finland's president (who has right to veto the law, but the right is used extremely rarely) approves the legislation, it will come into effect, typically within few months.



As Finland has traditionally enjoyed quite relaxed copyright legislation, the change is dramatic. Previously, copying for own personal use (whether you owned the CD/DVD/book/whatever) was perfectly legal and the authors were compensated by blank media levy. Now, the blank media levy will remain in place, but at least the following things will change:

• Circumventing copy protections, even for personal use, will be illegal. (it states so in the law, even tho the government tried to argue that the right wont be pursued by government, but nothing stops record labels, movie studios, etc to do so)
• Distributing (even for free) tools (whether physical devices or software) that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. (this includes DVD rippers, tools that allow copying copy-protected CDs, etc)
• Advertising tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. (and the law doesn't state how advertising is determined. So, basically simply linking to a page that has DVD ripper downloads from your own site can be considered "advertising")
• Possession of tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. Even for personal use.
• Guides on how to circumvent copy protection mechanisms can be considered as "tools" and thus are also illegal.
• Worryingly, even "organized discussion" on how to circumvent copy protection mechanisms, will be illegal. (and no, Finland doesn't have similar to American Supreme Court that determines whether laws are against constitution, but when laws are approved, they by default are in harmony with constitution and can't be later overturned on basis that they are un-constitutional)

Ironically, Finnish education minister, Ms. Tanja Karpela, argued that "only 1 percent of current music CDs include copy protection mechanisms", thus making the legislation invisible to users. However, she forgot to mention that virtually 100 percent of DVDs do have copy protection and therefor the former right to backup and copy DVDs will disappear. Also, by using at least some level of logic, one can assume that once breaking copy-protection mechanisms will be illegal, most new CDs will feature such mechanism.

So, basically -- buy a portable MP3 player and a copy-protected CD. And you can't copy the music from the CD to your MP3 player legally any more, as you'd break law if you circumvent the copy protection mechanism found on CD.

And the whole legislation is quite close to us -- AfterDawn.com is a Finnish company. So, compare the legislation and what you can find from our site and you probably see certain problem there..

Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 5 Oct 2005 5:25

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• 64 comments

• Rosco404

  Quote:Possession of tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. Even for personal useA high % of the population with computers could fall under that one....

  5.10.2005 05:40 #1

• Dela

  yet again a government turns its back on it's own citizen's wishes - except this time it completely changed more than the law, it changed what finnish citizens were used to, like for example it was illegal to copy dvds before eucd in most countries, eucd just made it more illegal, in finland it wasnt illegal.

  5.10.2005 05:43 #2

• rocky999

  Does'nt this mean the end of afterdawn.com. I certainly hope not. But if discussing rippers, linking to rippers, etc. becomes illegal in Finland, what happens to this websight?

  5.10.2005 05:51 #3

• Rosco404

  So does that mean Afterdawn will have to remove some software titles from the download section and filepedia!!

  5.10.2005 05:51 #4

• mystic

  someone bought the goverment again..... its the same old story ... I for one find it sad that a parent (adult) cant back up his childs movies or games lets be real our kids are using newer (and more expencive technology) then our for fathers could conseave.. not hat being said we must protect our rights to protect our investments by being able to back up this new media. games cd's and DVD's are now the new rage and if I buy it once then I should beable to make it adaptable to othe rmedia because I bought the right. to own it... being able to give my children a DVD player for their tv was a cheap investment about $60.00 now the movies add up quickly and one scratch ends all the fun now I must buy it again ... wrong I should be able to give my child the copy while safeguarding the origonail... the same goes for cds and ripping it to my hard drive to put it on my IPOD or what ever brand of mp3 player I have with out having to wait for the music police to come arrest me... who ever wrote the new law never asked anyone in the computer world or itthe people who voted them in befor signing this one :"Because they got Bought!!!"
  

  5.10.2005 05:56 #5

• ookami

  And this suprises anyone... how?! It's the Golden Rule in practice: Those with the Gold make the Rules!
  
  Thanks for being another saleout Finland.

  5.10.2005 06:09 #6

• marnie

  Afterdawn. Leave the country. Now!!

  5.10.2005 07:07 #7

• chesty

  As a citizen of the unites states i am not surprised in the dramatic turn of events concerning the copyright law in the country of finland.
  
  I suppose this website was warned for years that eventually distributing dvd decyrpter DVD Shrink and other dvd circumvention tools in finland will eventually be ILLEGAL.
  
  It's not like i find afterdawn's situation to be funny or amusing But distributing decss utilities have been illegal in the united stares since 1998 under the DMCA.
  
  When this is all over with you people can accuse people in the finnish legislature to be a bunch anti consumer back stabbers that shamelessly take kickbacks and bribes from the MPAA and RIAA much like congress people in the united states.
  
  The united congress is a whorehouse for the corporate and industrial cartels.
  
  LET NOBODY SAY THAT ANYBODY DID'NT TELL YOU SO...........

  5.10.2005 07:46 #8

• chesty

  As a citizen of the united states i am not surprised in the dramatic turn of events concerning the copyright law in the country of finland.
  
  I suppose this website was warned for years that eventually distributing dvd decyrpter DVD Shrink and other dvd circumvention tools in finland will eventually be ILLEGAL.
  
  It's not like i find afterdawn's situation to be funny or amusing But distributing decss utilities have been illegal in the united stares since 1998 under the DMCA.
  
  When this is all over with you people can accuse people in the finnish legislature to be a bunch anti consumer back stabbers that shamelessly take kickbacks and bribes from the MPAA and RIAA much like congress people in the united states.
  
  The united congress is a whorehouse for the corporate and industrial cartels.
  
  LET NOBODY SAY THAT ANYBODY DID'NT TELL YOU SO...........

  5.10.2005 07:48 #9

• gallagher

  hmmm . . . every though about moving afterdawn.com to Mongolia?
  
  Well, if Mongolia is out of the question, perhaps the United States owuld be a bit better. It is terrible how all these countries are now giving in to the media industry which is causing all the problem sto begin with by charging outrageous prices and not waking up to reality that you shouldn't sell hit songs fattened up with pathetic album fillers so that you can charge more.
  
  I am all for artists' recieving something, but not ripping people off with the publishers. Heck, publishers should be a thing of the past nowadays. All an artist should have to have is his creativity and an ADVERTISER so people can hear and want to go out and buy--by downloading it for say, .99! Not this rip-off 13.00-19.99 CD price for a junk album.
  
  

  5.10.2005 08:44 #10

• mystic

  Got an Idea for those in power of Afterdawn.com how about moving it to a none aligned country like Iran or the USSR . there must be web space available in Sweden or somewhere maybe the Asorses or iceland...greenland? somewher...

  5.10.2005 09:17 #11

• panchdara

  This is certainly a punch in the stomach. And I'm not too concerned about paying for content... I am concerned that I'm being told how, when and where I have to use that content... where is the freedom in that?
  
  Good luck Finland... this is just the beginning of the "cancer".

  5.10.2005 09:36 #12

• sisph

  Bastards.
  
  

  5.10.2005 09:57 #13

• BryGuy

  Time for someone in another country without copy protection legislation to step up and offer to host the site....if not, let's do a little looking for ourselves and see what we can come up with....

  5.10.2005 10:29 #14

• gurnard

  the most worrying so far as AD is concerned is the...."Organized discussion"....part surely.
  this is the thing we do the most of isn't it?

  5.10.2005 11:47 #15

• evilh0ly

  damn this sux hope the Finnish President vetos the stupid eucd crap
  keep it the Finnish way and original.

  5.10.2005 12:39 #16

• nonoitall

  Better move to Sweden AD. :(

  5.10.2005 12:48 #17

• p4_tt

  This is very sad news indeed, each country one by one is adopting such harsh laws and its very sad and there's no need for it!!! I mean how many people in Finland copy CD/DVDs sell or upload them i mean isn't that why such law exists and yet people that don't sell/upload get hit with this Sh*t.

  5.10.2005 12:57 #18

• john179

  The internet is the modern way going forward so the law should fall in line.Why not introduce more Legal download sites at reasonable prices all can afford.If you had this then piracy would fall very quickly.About time the fat cats realise the customer wants more for there money.Why should we pay for artists who put one or two good tracks on a album.If they really wanted to stop piracy then go to the people who make the hardware to make it possible.Sony go on about piracy but they make and sell dvd writers and make a good profit.If they do not want us to make back up of things we purchase simple thing is stop selling the bloody things.This will never happen because they make to much money.
  

  5.10.2005 13:38 #19

• tranquash

  The truth of the matter is in my opinion, that the same guys crying out and complaining about piracy, are the ones that actually control it. How do you explain movies, music and software getting to the pirates before their release dates?? It is because these greedy bastards are double-dipping. They are the ones that use piracy to earn untaxable money, while screwing the common consumer.
  
  In the end you either get it from them with tax, or you get it from them undeclared. But the money always flow one way.
  
  We have to resist somehow!!
  

  5.10.2005 18:12 #20

• tranquash

  !!!!!!!!!!

  5.10.2005 18:15 #21

• RoyLopEar

  How many laws do they have to pass.. how many restrictions online and in the physical world do they have to create and enforce.. how much of a sham does "liberty" have to become (the businessmen love to christen their belief system with this word at every turn) ... these kinds of people urge more and more corporate control of our lives, and in the USA they expect people to rely more and more on corporations for everything ... give them absolute power, total trust and faith... make the government their paid servents) ... before life just becomes one big pit of drabness and depravity... Soviet Union-like in it's dull day to day meaningless existace.
  
  This is the bigest load of bullshit, and yet it makes perfect sense... businessmen allied with the government in the interests of total control.. cultural control... thought control.

  5.10.2005 19:05 #22

• neo1000

  Do they think we`re gonna buy more dvd`s and cd`s with these attacks? Actually i`m thinking about buying less cause once they`re in control prices will go up.

  5.10.2005 19:09 #23

• borhan9

  This whole thing is a catch 22. U dammed if you do and u dammed if u dont... Either way as was said b4 if they dont get it one way they will get it the other...
  
  Does anyone know of any countries that dont have copy right legislation in place at all yet...

  5.10.2005 23:17 #24

• christ93

  Antigua???

  6.10.2005 01:06 #25

• weazel200

  They better not close down AfterDawn. If they did attempt to couldnt the server be moved elsewhere?

  6.10.2005 05:35 #26

• mystic

  Im still in shock about the fact that Finnish people now cant evn take a cd they bought (leigally mine you ) and make a mp3 for their Ipod with out the fear of the music police... how sad is that ?now the only voice of the people (afterdawn) who speaks out about the law is in fear of being closed due to some new law... very sad ... this should be spead world wide to see if it will affect the tourist industry in finlan.... maybe if they see some damage to their cash flow they might repeal the law.... good luck finland the wolf (RIAA,MPAA) is at the door and they are hungrey ..... for blood......

  6.10.2005 06:10 #27

• Ghostdog

  The implementation seems extremely flawed and I´m surprised that some voices within the government (with fair arguments in favor of changing parts of the law) didn´t receive more attention from members of the government.
  
  I for one think the law is complete bullshit and I refuse to abide by it.
  
  The implementation is against free speech and the rights of consumers (the very citizens the government is supposed to representent) and I wont have it.

  6.10.2005 06:51 #28

• mystic

  GhostDog ... I wish the rest of us could do something about it, but your country has fallen in with ours and for that I truely am sorry ... as an american it is hard to see my countries will being applied to other nations .. we try to do whats right ,but most of the time americans stumble through life pushing and shoving others to bend to our will... dont hate all of us, from my last count we didnt even vote in the last president .... apparently that two can be bought..... as for the government of Finland I wish you would look at what you have done to your children and the fact that you just got in bed with a group(riaa+mpaa) who will even sue a dead person to make their point... and at what cost to your nation, may which ever gods you pray to have mersey on your soul..........

  6.10.2005 09:04 #29

• cappyx

  in my personal opinion i would and will Stop buying the crap. how many of these crappy movies do you really want to own? who cares if you own it borrow it from a friend. stop patronizing hollywood as if they are some god or goddess. make them beg you to buy thier bullshit and they will cease thier bs as well. stop even renting as they get royalties from this even more. the power to put an end to the hollywood crap is in your command not thiers. figure out what you spend per month on dvds and put that mobney in a 401k or ira and make a profit instead of giving it away. add up your stupid pointless dvd collection to see what you could have already saved. ask yourself, how many times do i actually watch this crap? and then do something that holywood does not expect you to do abondand them and then watch as they start to squirm. and when they start to squirm abandon the movie theatres as well and this will deliver the final kill as thier profits go to hell they will start to beg and at that point let then suffacate on thier own greed! in my opinion you have the power do something and you are in control they only think they are! In my opinion i would switch my websites from supplying copy tools to starting a internet base sign up and orginazation to end hollywoods greed by orginizing via the world wide web a complete stoppage to purchasing dvd, games, movie going, premium cable and sat channels such as hbo and the likes etc. this is strickly my opinion.

  6.10.2005 10:12 #30

• GrayArea

  I guess politicians are well... politicians everywhere these days. Their purpose would appear to be to make whatever laws the large multi-national corporations want. The notion of representing the public who voted them into office is becoming a bad farce. Who would have thought that Big Brother would turn out to be music and movie companys? They are going to ruin the internet and now it looks like even computer hardware is going to get all mucked up just so they can get paid for their shoddy products.
  
  Sorry to hear it guys {AD crew]. I've been visiting AD for a long time now. I hate to see the site gutted but it looks like that's what will most likely happen (unless it is moved somewhere outside of Finland?). Maybe someday the people will wise up and kick these criminal politicians and corporations out of power. Until then things will only get worse.

  6.10.2005 11:06 #31

• btfjf

  I'm as mad as anybody else about all this nonsense, but all you have to do is go to the bootleggers..Here in the great white north, we have many Chinese-oriented plaza's, filled with stores with bootlegged Russian, French, Chinese versions of movies in theatres now (bad quality-shot with handheld dvd camera) and copies of newly released (to dvd rental stores) movies that are just as good as the store bought dvd. These place's sell a boxed set of Las Vegas-The TV series, season's 1 and 2 for $35 Canadian each.-At one time they had all 7 seasons of Star Trek: The next Generation for $30 Cdn per= $210 Cdn for the set-I would have paid $110 per season, =$770.00 Cdn at the local Walmart..To me, the question is not "To rip or not to rip"-It is "which bootleg store today"?- BTW, I get a real laugh at the bootlegs'-They always have the standard FBI/INTERPOL/StarFleet warnings about Piracy

  6.10.2005 11:12 #32

• gamename

  this blows. first decrypter now this. i guess im going to have to learn to speak chinesse.

  6.10.2005 14:17 #33

• bombbay41

  As an American, I am ashamed of ourselves. No matter whom we vote for, all candidates are lackeys for Big Brother Corporate Government under this admin, reality TV shows and now this crap. And Americans worry about a come stain on a dress from the middle of the night 7 years ago created by legal adults...
  
  Look, I know piracy IS an issue, I see this. However, it's out of control simply because these f*cking dinosaurs produce fragile, crappy media at $.09 cost, demand $15.99 that's stable for about two weeks before it f*ucks up instead of the good, stable sort the designers had mind - anybody remember when you could use a CD like a frisbee and the SOB would still play?
  
  When I buy insurance, am I indicted for it?
  
  Good grief, all I want to do is insure a fragile $15.00 media investment, I'm not looking to "rip off" anyone, not artists or distributors or retailers, by copying mass quantities of any digital media and selling it cheap on the street, and I just don't believe that most people are into that. If I do it and am caught, I deserve all penalties under U.S. and Arkansas law. I can live with that.
  
  You ancient pieces of greed, give us consumers a fair price and quit threatening us or die by market share failure
  
  

  6.10.2005 18:04 #34

• hans471

  It is so sad how the world is going. More and more I see big business calling the shots. They buy the politicians then tell them what they want them to do. I see the oil companies getting so rich yet our government says its OK, in fact it’s good for us to pay too much! The entertainment industry is even worse. They cheat the artists; they cheat the consumers, now they buy off the politicians to do their bidding.
  
  Where does it end? I am getting old and I hate to see the world going this way, driven by greed and profit. Its OK for a movie studio president to make millions of dollars a year robbing people but its wrong for a poor working stiff to make a back up copy of his kids movies so that when the little ones screw it up they can still have a copy. Mr. Movie mogul says “too bad”, just go buy another copy and give us some more of your money.
  
  The music folks are worse. You want a good song? Buy an $16 album of trash to get one or two decent pieces of music. There has got to be a better way! I think most of the folks who come here know the way as it has been said over and over. Quit making criminals out of ordinary law abiding citizens. Quit ripping people off when the technology exits to meet their wants at a fair price and still make a tidy and fair profit for yourself.
  
  It’s all about GREED. These people just want all the money they can get and they don’t care how they get it. They are so afraid that they might miss getting a penny of something.
  
  Revolt, stop buying their trash. We are not their slaves that beg for their crumbs. If everyone would just stop buying their garbage for a few weeks they would get the message. Single out the companies that are the worse offenders. Make them take a big hit in the pocket book, it’s the only thing they understand.
  
  We can all live without a new movie or new album for a few weeks. Organize and revolt against them, send a message they can not help but understand. “We are mad as hell and we won’t take it any more”.
  

  6.10.2005 18:30 #35

• ianla

  It shouldn't be a surprise that Finland has finally adopted such Copyright Laws, it was only a matter of time. The document itself is very poorly written, and no doubt there are parts of it that could end up being argued in court in the future. You have to remember it isn't the majority who run governments, or even those in power who run governments. It is the people with the big bucks. It will be interesting to see what donations to party funds the music industry make in the near future.

  6.10.2005 22:09 #36

• Dhawex

  Remember, all these new technologies weren't here until very recently. Why can't we just stop buying all these products and be content with what we have until they start feeling the pinch.
  Irrespective of race,country, nation these sharks has the same face.
  If anybody is there to be blamed, it's us; to make them stincin' rich and run our lives within our home.

  6.10.2005 23:33 #37

• creaky

  what's next, we gonna be stopped in the street and indicted due to carrying an mp3 player ?.
  
  
  maybe Afterdawn has to move to Antigua. but would we all be still able to talk about all this stuff wherever it moves to, probably not - there's no such thing as free speech these days.

  7.10.2005 00:23 #38

• sdfuk

  This law will be a complete waste of time as it will be extremely hard to enforce and control. If people make backups of their DVDs and/or CDs then they (obviously) already own rippers/decrypters/encoders etc. Are they going to physically check everyones PCs? No. Someone is trying to close the stable gate after the horse has bolted.
  
  At the moment I'm backing up all my wife's amd my CD's to go onto our Ipod and Zen - that apparently would be illegal.
  
  I copy films from Sky using a DVD recorder as we both work late and different hours so we can watch them at the weekend - will that be illegal? Someone made the very good point about the companies moaning about piracy are the ones who sell DVD recorders.
  
  If this was actually enforceable then it would make me do the following:
  
  1) Not buy anymore CDs - to be honest and maybe this is a sign of getting old but most new music is a pile of crap.
  
  2) Wouldn't buy DVDs anymore just to make a point.
  
  Both DVDs and CDs are overpriced and when was the last time you saw a decent film before it gets a Hollywood revamp and rips the soul out of it? I go to the cinema a lot anyway so no big deal there.
  
  The solution to all of this is to bring down prices to sensible level. Is a CD really worh £15 or a DVD £20 - which are some of the ridiculous prices you see in the shops today?
  
  We also need more and better download sites.
  
  Crikey, we'd all better be careful because soon we might have to pick up books and start reading again!!
  
  Cheers
  S
  
  Good luck to afterdawn.com - an excellent site. Can you still work on such a website but host it in another country?
  
  
  

  7.10.2005 01:20 #39

• Wild9

  Ambiguity and shady, backdoor dealing.
  
  Yep, that's the EU and expecting anything better - anything above board - is overestimating the union's accountability. Private business interests control the EU.
  
  I ask myself who is the biggest crook here: the pirate, or the unaccountable dictatorship destroying an entire continent? Whilst the European people are pushed from pillar to post, driven to their limit through a regime of bureaucratic bullshit, their continent is turned into the sweatshop of the west.
  
  laws that purport to protect our rights actually erode and remove them, and no, it won't affect the people who pirate large quantities.
  
  Another example of our elected leaders being accountable only to themselves - lest we forget where this mistake took us in the late 30's..instead of burning your history books they are lighting up your rights to free speech.

  7.10.2005 04:33 #40

• sammy205

  Oh No!!! This does not effect anything what I do.I will download all my CD's and DVD's from web as usual.

  7.10.2005 04:50 #41

• TekPete

  The movie industry reckons they are losing millions every year because of piracy. I don't believe it's anything like this. On the whole pirated DVDs are of a very poor quality, usually recorded by some clown with a camcorder. Most people who buy these wouldn't buy the original anyway, those that do will then go out and buy the original.
  The movie industry also says that the proceeds from this go to fund other criminal activities; drugs etc. Where's the proof? DVD piracy isn't something that requires a large investment. A few hundred pounds or dollars buys a computer capable of doing it. Most of these guys are just trying to make a few quid so that they can have some kind of life.
  If people can't make legal copies of their legally obtained DVDs or CDs then I guess they'll stop buying them. I only use my DVD burner for putting home videos onto disc so such legislation won't affect me anyway.

  7.10.2005 06:39 #42

• Wild9

  Every single independent retailer in my town has had to close down..no longer able to compete with large stores and very restrictive markets. Every single time films, games and music are sold at these stores the town nearby has one more nail rammed into its coffin. This town and countless like it used to be thriving; now it is a no-go area with a freeway running through the middle, carrying away the trade that would otherwise flourish.
  
  The independents don't stand a chance, much like the budding, talented film makers who don't hold certain political and philosophical viewpoints..
  
  Some piracy does fund illegal activity, I am of the opinion that most doesn't. I know where the biggest destructive element is, and it's not the person selling the dodgy cinema copy done with a camcorder. The internet has even stopped this to a certain extent.
  
  The market for quality goods at reasonable prices is being controlled exclusively by the distributor and as such I view these distributors as a more destructive element. Even the music artists themselves are up in arms over the vast profits being made off their backs.
  
  As consumers we have a choice: cheap rubbish so we can feed our kids or expensive, restricted rubbish feeding an overdraft facility..the EU doesn't give a damn, however the EU is very good at "harmonising" non-ethical business practice..

  7.10.2005 10:58 #43

• morguex

  This is really sad, the corporations and goverments are slowly taking away our life's pleasures and futures.

  7.10.2005 15:33 #44

• boriken

  I don't understand the stupidity of the bureaucrats, like there is nothing else for them to do. conquer hunger, raise the education level, stop terrorizim, crime, nope thats too hard, so they do the easy stuff like screw the populace. What needs to happen is for us to stop buying cd's dvd's for a month just to show the power that we as consumers have. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH but thats too easy.

  7.10.2005 16:17 #45

• dpilarz

  I agree withh all here that the efforts of the big "entertainment" corps to force buyers into a spider web of restricted access and high prices is ultimately self damaging. However, as already mentioned by several members, consumers' dependence on a one to one relationship with the companies only encourages that behaviour. We can change the situation somewhat by adapting or spreading different ways of enjoying our entertainments. My friends and I have for many years simply been sharing the available purchased stuff and spending more time making our own music. It's fun and gratifying to watch DVDs together with friends; groups of people lend the same DVDs to other groups, therefore, although each person owns just a few DVDs the "friends" groups possesses a virtual archive. Why do we need to possess such vast numbers of things we only occasionaly use. Likewise with recordings. Of course this doesn't solve the problem with portable players, but at least it lessens our dependence. And making your own music and sharing it with friends is another aspect of socialising that has been lost or even stolen by the lifestyle the big corps advertising demons foist upon us. Much of what is recorded is grossly overhyped and normal people leading normal lives often get more out of all styles of music when they study and play it than when passively listening to some of the expensive mediocrity available. Thus if we lower demand in general, the prices may go down to a level reasonable for loading lots of music onto a portable player, but our real entertainment will come from socialising with music and film. We're social animals - not zoo specimens caged up for the big corporations' fancy.

  8.10.2005 00:46 #46

• SLaTheR

  OMG,( a sentiment that will probably also be illegal in the US soon.)
  
  As a US citizen, I have always looked up to the supposed advanced thinking of the european community. I have also witnessed the americanization of your laws with a stupified look on my face.
  
  From what I am reading, once your president signs this law it becomes more a religion than a law???? Is there no appeal process at all? Is there no hope of getting this incredibly vague piece of legislation stopped in court before it can be used to turn half your citizens into criminals?
  
  I completely expected this from France and Germany, the puppetwhores of big business in europe, but I can't believe that the RIAA and MPAA have gotten such a hold on the worlds governments that even Finland is now going to be held in this copyright slavery that we americans are fighting at every turn. At least we have a huge court system, which at the very least keeps these organizations tied up at the state levels on almost every issue, and the supreme court has yet to make any "cover all" laws to stop this process. YET!!!! Even on P2P issues, after 10 years the RIAA is still having to fight at every turn to have it's ideas of fair use imposed.
  
  I have been an avid reader of afterdawn for about a year now, having found it and used it's info and links extensively. It would be a shame if you guys were forced to close up shop due to the fact your government has sided with big business, despite public and also apparently a large political outcry against this law.
  
  I think it is an excellent idea to stop buying these garbage CD's (I haven't bought a CD in over 5 years, I agree that the new music they force us to listen to is horrible anyway). I only rent DVD's and haven't been to a theater in 2 years (a choice made for boycott as well as crappy films being offered).
  
  May God be with you afterdawn, because your existence is now very much an open question. Please don't bail on us without some form of a fight though. (If that is at all possible).
  
  GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

  8.10.2005 08:30 #47

• DocFunk

  Ok...i TOTALLY agree with SDFUK post...but, lets do something about it.
  Lets declare this Christmas a NO CD/DVD CHRISTMAS. Lets boycot them, send them a message. Let them choke on their Xmas piles of cd's and dvd's. Use your email contacts to send this message and get it rolling. Afterdawn, put it in your next newsletter. Lets start this campaign WORLDWIDE. FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8.10.2005 08:40 #48

• boriken

  O.K. O.K. From now until after xmas I for one am not buying anymore cd's or dvd's as a protest. I will ask all my friends to do the same. But, what we need is an organized boycott. Led by a respected orginazation. Or at least by a lot of people and we need to get it out to all the general populace. Lets get to work.

  8.10.2005 09:25 #49

• spbt

  What you all forgot to mention is that altho the politicians get elected with the help of all those big corporations making political contributions. We the taxpayers they suposidly represent, pay for it with our tax dollars. This doesn't stop there, because most if not all of those bastards get LIFETIME BENEFITS for them and their spouses after serving only one stint in the office. No I did not vote since the mid 80's because they are all the same they take these jobs not to public servents as its commonly miss represeted but to persue their own agendas. Why follow some one elses laws when you can help craft your own.
  
  doctor = someone smart enough
  lawyer = someone not smart enough to be a doctor
  politician = someone not smart enough to be a lawyer
  cop = someone not smart enough to be a politician but still craves power
  
  keep the first and last
  eliminate the rest

  8.10.2005 09:33 #50

• denniscam

  is there some way to organise a world wide protest that we as consumers could get an organised protest. its alright us on this forum saying how we feel , but the polatitions sre not reading these protests. lets kick som ase and someone with a better knowledge than me form a site that we can get them to listen to, lets get organised, before they bury us, get them to listen when the music industry said the humble tape would ruin them it didnt they are now doing the same thing but films are now also in the frame. as someone said earlyer the bigest majority of films are crap anyway, so maybe pirate films could play a part at least you would be able to see if the film was good or bad and at least only lose a couple of pounds instead of £20, i will admit in past I have done this but also have bought original as soon as availible as if you colect good films that is what you want, but it has saved me a lot of money on hyped films that were crap, but I suppose thats what they want us to buy movies they know are USLESS to keep themselves in work

  9.10.2005 10:31 #51

• cappyx

  It really doesn't matter what you do the record industry is going to clean up the dvd mess and put an end to the piracy eventualy. they will not have this mistake repeated with the new dvd hd format. in the end the record company will win as no one will ever stop buying dvds retail. What i don't understand is why doesn't the record companies offer a legal version that would allow a user to copy 2 copies of any css encoded disk, charge a anual or monthly fee for it which would cover royalties. i woulmd be happy with this just to not have to be forced to buy plastic snap cases and artwork i do not need.

  9.10.2005 15:50 #52

• nonoitall

  They make money on the snap cases and artwork.

  9.10.2005 16:55 #53

• SLaTheR

  As long as there are brains out there, piracy will never be stopped. Anything you can encode will eventually be unencoded, no matter what format or media you use.
  
  The RIAA and MPAA are just fighting a long protracted fight in order to get complete control of all media types and published artists work. Something that they claim to have already, but many courts and countries still disagree. They will no more win this battle than they did the vcr and betamax ones. Which by the way did not cripple their prcious profit margins like they said it would.
  
  The scarey thing here is the total disregard of politicians for the voices of the people they claim to represent.

  9.10.2005 17:24 #54

• neo1000

  They can pass all the legislation they want,in countries like here in Mexico where the minimum wage is about 7 dlls a day and about 60% of the population is in this range you can bet they won`t stop piracy,do you think a policeman who gets paid about 100 dlls per week will care about it?

  9.10.2005 18:11 #55

• boriken

  I'll tell you how much the politions care for us small folk. Here in the peoples republic of california they passed a law that prohibits us from defending ourselves if we have a home invasion. It states that we are to let the crooks have the house and we are to get out as best we can. The only way we can defend ourselves is if a life is in danger, then WE have to prove that our life was in danger, did I mention if we hurt the little bastard WE would be arrested first. The criminal well according to the politicos "the poor baby was hungry "UH" he was mistreated as a child etc etc."
  So why should they care about our rights regarding backing up the cds & dvds we purchased legally.
  
  Indeed I agree that most politicos are a bunch of gutless wonders that crave power for powers sake and to hell with the dumbs**ts that voted them in. The only thing they understand is when the masses show their anger and vote them out.
  

  9.10.2005 18:14 #56

• DocFunk

  Ok.... NO CD/DVD Christmas... write an email and forward to all your contacts and tell them to pass it on. If you use Messenger, use "NO CD/DVD Christmas" as your name. People will ask you about it, and when you answer tell them its a set deal, that it is gonna happen, hype it up. I started circulating an email and asked for it to be passed on, be brief and polite in your email... c'mon Afterdawn, get behind this. Every fire starts with a spark. Lets do this. They did a NO PETROL MONDAY in Australia. That very same day, the companies dropped petrol prices by 14 cents! and it has stayed down since then. People power! Let them choke on their stocks of cd's and dvd's to be released for Xmas period.

  9.10.2005 20:45 #57

• xsbozo

  I just went thru a divorce, lost 300 store bought music cd's and 350 store bought dvd movies, and I'll hold back buying any replacements! This really burns my a_s!! Maybe in a couple years, we'll see if big business is still power stroking us then!!! Really hate to lose afterdawn, my favorite website!! Afterdawn, hope you guys make it thru all this crap!!!

  10.10.2005 14:49 #58

• boriken

  O.K. Lets kick butt!

  13.10.2005 17:04 #59

• sui-cyco

  these laws are obviouly directed at shutting down sites like AD.there is no way they plan on cracking down on the general population.half the country would be in jail.i do not know the policies of finland,but these laws are oppressive.and remeinesent of communist polices.there is obviously money involved.the entertainment world is putting some money in those politicians pockets.

  4.11.2005 11:59 #60

• sui-cyco

  a good idea is to get the word out about the EUCD. i dont think too many people know what they are trying to do with these new laws.try to get pc mags and news organizations to do a story on the EUCD.and have an eye-catcing title like "EUCD TRIES TO TAKE FREEDOM OF SPEECH AWAY".because here in america,nothing pisses people off more than the government infringing on peoples rights to freedom of speech.maybe get a petition started.

  4.11.2005 12:17 #61

• RoyLopEar

  Like someone else said, I suggest people rely more on media that is not produced by the big corporations but instead independant media, street musicians, amature comics and online flash (or hand-drawn) animation, etc. Artists should be encouraged to release albums with "Community Commons Copyrights" on all the songs, alongside their "big professional hit" albums. Micropower (100 Watt or less) and On-Line radio stations should shy away from big commercially liscenced recordings and find and play more noncommercial stuff, too.

  4.11.2005 14:06 #62

• Wild9

  RoyLopEar,
  
  I like it! We'd so more honest material being produced..free from the constraints (legal, financial and political), of working under the shadows of commercial interest.

  7.11.2005 08:19 #63

• Dude2099

  Hmmmmmm, so who in Finland wants to sell me there Ipod for cheap because its basically useless now unless you break the law you criminals :-p

  26.12.2005 03:34 #64