The Netherlands Criminalize Downloading of Copyrighted Material (April 10)

[vpnair33 6]

"The European Court of Justice has ruled that the Netherlands can no longer permit its citizens to freely download copyrighted movies and music without paying for them. In its judgment the Court rules that the current system of a "piracy levy" to compensate rightsholders is unlawful."

 

"Update: The Dutch Government confirmed to Tweakers that downloading copyrighted material for personal use is no longer allowed, effective immediately.

The Government also clarified that in general offenses will be prosecuted through civil cases, not criminal ones. We have updated this article accordingly."

 

https://torrentfreak.com/the-netherlands-must-outlaw-downloading-eu-court-rules-140410/

 

 

How does this affect people using AirVPN's NL Servers that often use BitTorrent or other P2P download methods? Should they switch to another country? Is the NL cracking down on pirates and people who are using BitTorrent in this country?

[foxwood 4]

I think the Netherlands is just doing a similar thing as other countries - making copyright infringement illegal (either under civil or criminal law). 

 

Whether they'll be chasing every downloader is dependant on how much time, man-power, and resources they have to do so - probably as much as other countries, so it's doubtful downloading an mp3 here and there is going to have the police at your door, but if you're that worried you could always buy said mp3. 

 

There's a rumour even Switzerland will be doing this too (currently it's legal to download copyright material for personal use), so if there's a bright side to this at least a downloader will know where they stand no matter what country they're in. 

[PirateParty 49]

Very sad news for people in Holland. AirVPN's services will not be affected though. They ignore all DMCA's and copyright infringement notices. If something happens and leaseweb cracks down on piracy Air will just move to another provider. This is what I am assuming due to what they have done in the past on certain US servers.

[dd79 15]

I believe support is aware that there's a need for anonymous p2p, so if this becomes a problem then they need to act.

[mhalen 2]

So what countries is this still legal in? I know switzerland is one, but what others?

[McLoEa 25]

Isn't all our traffic encrypted as it moves across servers in these jurisdictions?