Danish DRM Breaker Turns Himself In To Police

[admin]

Remember that Danish movie fan that confessed to the "crime" of breaking DRM on his own legally purchased DVDs? Well, he was promised a response from the country's leading anti-piracy organization, Antipiratgruppen, by the 1st of December, but the 1st of December has gone and so far, there has been no response.

Back in early November, Henrik Andersen admitted to breaking the DVD CSS copy protection on over 100 films and 10 seasons of TV show, all of which were legally purchased discs that he owns, and he "ripped" them so he can enjoy these shows, without the original discs, in his media server. The act harms no one, and yet is considered illegal in countries like Denmark that share similar legislation to the US DMCA, which prohibits the circumvention of any copy protection systems, no matter how ineffective, and doesn't matter for what reason, even if the reasons are perfectly sensible and legal. The twist is that Denmark explicitly allows for fair use, which covers ripping one's own DVDs for personal use. This contradiction is what Henrik set out to challenge, by confessing his crimes and hoping for a response.

So after not getting the response he needed, Henrik now decides the best thing is to turn himself in to the police. Antipiratgruppen had threatened to ask for Mr Andersen's arrest, but probably fearing a public backlash, decided against taking any action. Instead, Mr Andersen has taken the more proactive step to try and keep the issue alive.

More:

http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-refuses-bait-drm-breaker-goes-to-the-police-091201/

[admin]

Antipiratgruppen has responded:

The main purpose of the rule is to ensure against abuse of films and music being illegally copied and distributed further. The Association of Danish Videodistributors certainly have no interest in suing consumers who like you have purchased legitimate products -- quite the contrary.

Note that all this says is that Antipiratgruppen does not plan on using people like Henrik Andersen who rip their own DVDs for personal use, however, the law which Antipiratgruppen and co supports still says it is illegal (circumvention), which just means that if Antipiratgruppen wanted to sue, they can.

[dr_ml422]

So many more things that need rapid attention and care besides DRM. It's to the point now these agencies just need to keep busy and play with something. I'm really curious what their next career move will be when they finally find a real life solution to so-called Piracy. Now the picture's even clearer when I've read that how can they be losing $$$ if most really never bought anything anyway. Potential future sales? Unbelievable.