Unlikely Heroes
Published by marco on
Swiss Bundesrat 2011
To the joy of the technically literate everywhere—and those interested in the rights of citizens to some form of cultural commons—the Swiss Bundesrat (pictured above) have emerged as unlikely heroes for their recent confirmation that file-sharing no big deal, some downloading still OK by Timothy B. Lee (Ars Technica).
“A new report by the Swiss government argues that unauthorized file sharing is not a significant problem, and that existing Swiss law—which allows for downloading copyrighted content for personal use—is sufficient to protect copyright holders. It considers and rejects three proposed changes: a French-style “three strikes” law, Internet filtering, and a mandatory collective licensing regime that would impose a fee on all Internet users that allowed unlimited file-sharing.”
Unsurprisingly, the Swiss decided not to change anything and, for a change, that’s a good thing. It’s refreshing to see a government that does a study and tests the hypotheses offered by proponents of new policy rather than just enacts whatever the highest bidder and squeakiest wheel wants.