I don't think that merely making file sharing a criminal offence would be very useful in terms of enforcement. You see, the Dutch legal system has one very peculiar feature: the prosecutor's office has a monopoly on prosecution; it is for the OM to decide how to proceed. It is rather obvious that small "infringements" are very unlikely to warrant prosecution. Having the legislation in place is not quite the same as having the willingness to actually prosecute. And pushing can only get you so far...
An example of a similar situation are soft drugs - yes, it is a criminal offence to buy, sell, possess, produce etc., BUT the OM has a policy not to prosecute in certain cases (small quantities for personal use, coffee shops following set criteria).
When it comes to file-sharing, I would say that "fair use" would probably be a sound reason not to prosecute. Thus having a criminal offence, and actually prosecuting people for sharing files is quite different, and fair use is quite consistent, at least in the Dutch context.
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An example of a similar situation are soft drugs - yes, it is a criminal offence to buy, sell, possess, produce etc., BUT the OM has a policy not to prosecute in certain cases (small quantities for personal use, coffee shops following set criteria).
When it comes to file-sharing, I would say that "fair use" would probably be a sound reason not to prosecute. Thus having a criminal offence, and actually prosecuting people for sharing files is quite different, and fair use is quite consistent, at least in the Dutch context.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Eri.
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