Jail time for P2P in Italy
Italy has made transferring content via the Internet without the permission of the copyright holder a criminal offenceThe Italian parliament yesterday voted in favour of imposing jail sentences of up to three years on anyone caught uploading or downloading unauthorised copyright material to and from the Net.The move comes in direct response to the rise of P2P services such as Kazaa and Gnutella, and was prompted by the country"s film industry.
Until now, Italy"s copyright laws, which date back to 1941, have focused on protecting copyright holders from those who seek to profit financially from the unauthorised duplication of content. The new law extends that to anyone who performs such an act, whether for financial gain or not.In short, by sharing music for free, Italian P2Pers risk punishment almost as severe as if they had attempted to sell pirate CDs.Those found guilty of the unauthorised distribution of copyright material now face a fine of between €154 and €1032 (5-1240), a jail sentence of between six months and three years, the confiscation of their hardware and software, and the revelation of their misdeeds in Italy"s two national newspapers, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera.
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