[Discussioni] newsscan

[Francesco Potorti`]

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT OKAYS PRIVATE COPYING OF DIGITAL WORKS
The European Parliament has issued a preliminary decision to extend, with
some limitations, the private copying permissible in the analog world to
digital media. New-media companies, consumer-electronics makers and
citizens' rights groups applauded the decision to reject all but 16 of a
record 197 proposed amendments to the EU's Copyright Directive, which faces
a full vote next week. Among the amendments approved was a provision
allowing copyright owners to employ technical protection measures, such as
encryption, to prevent their works from being pirated. Copies could,
however, be made "by a natural person for private use and for ends that are
neither directly nor indirectly commercial." Fair practice lobbyists said
the final version represented a reasonable compromise: "Everybody gained
something and everybody lost something," said the head of the European
Digital Media Association. The music industry, however, was more critical
of the decision: "Private copying really has to be fore the private
circle," said the European regional director of the Federation of
Phonographic Industries. (Wall Street Journal 6 Feb 2001)
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB981401558502841316.htm (sub req'd)