Free downloads should be illegal: MPs

Avoiding copyright payments by downloading films, music and games from the internet should be made illegal, according to an all-party committee of MPs, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday.


The committee says that teenagers regard it as a sport to watch films on the internet that have not yet been released or to download music without paying a cent for it.
And it is calling on justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin and economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven to come down hard on offenders. The parents of minors who break the law should also be held responsible, the MPs say.
At the moment it is only illegal to upload films and music.
At the same time, the committee says the tax on cds and dvds – which is used to pay authors’ rights – should be scrapped. This means consumers would be better off as well as performers, the committee said.

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