14 DAY TRIAL // Since the downloading of copyrighted content is an issue that puts pressure on governments worldwide, Swiss authorities decided to conduct a study to see if they should declare the phenomenon illegal. The results of the research revealed that there’s no need for such legislation since copyright holders are not really that affected by these practices.
According to TorrentFreak, the current laws that allow individuals to download media content for personal use will not change because it doesn’t need to.
The report shows that the government doesn’t actually see things as copyright holders who continue to claim their businesses are affected by piracy. Instead, they believe that the available technology should be put to good use in other ways, not to set up filters or blockades.
“Every time a new media technology has been made available, it has always been ‘abused’. This is the price we pay for progress. Winners will be those who are able to use the new technology to their advantages and losers those who missed this development and continue to follow old business models,” the report notes.
Furthermore, they also point out the fact that the media industry doesn’t necessarily lose money because of what they call illegal downloading. To prove this they’re study highlights how individuals who download music and movies from the Internet are not doing so to save money, but as a complementary method of obtaining the entertainment materials.
While only around 30% of Swiss citizens download pirated content, the amount of money they allocate to other forms of entertainment is fairly constant and the number of purchases they make is in some cases even higher than of those who don’t use file-sharing sites.
In their opinion there is even a positive aspect of piracy since many members of the media industry, especially musicians, can easier advertise their work.
On the other hand, they condemn the methods utilized by other countries to combat piracy, which means that Switzerland won’t see any three-strike laws or DNS filters too soon.