hydrarchist writes: "This story on 2600.com may appear to address something banal, a police raid on a vendor of region coded DVDs on sale outside their zone. But the DVDs are legit.....not rip-offs, cracks or counterfeits. Their distribution in Sweden simply conflicts with the marketting timetable of the motion picture studios.


This incident comes on the heels of the Motion Picture Association's legal jihad against the distributors of the DeCSS code which allows users to adapt their DVDs to their technology.


In february Belgian police raided the homes of twelve users whose offence was to have engaged in peer to peer file sharing of MP3 files.

1997 legislation abolished the need to demonstrate commercial purpose in order to initiate a criminal prosecution against those who reproduce or distribute digital copies of copyrighted works beyond thresholds so low that almost every regular user of software and the internet is potentially liable. Non-profit operators making works available for all on the net are now being pursued criminally.


A classic process of enclosure is unfolding. As a corrolary to the intensified privatisation occurring under the umbrella of 'intellectual property', new crimes and criminals are being created. On the other hand, the digital sphere provides amazing space for a new commons - we need strategies to defend and build it politically and practically."