'Come and copy our films' - French libraries
French librarians are calling on readers to copy borrowed books and DVDs to fight the clampdown on the illegal downloading. They say the French law allows people to copy works available in public libraries.
30-year-old blogger Silvae is a librairian and calls on members to copy borrowed material. On his blog Bibliobsession, he encourages readers and librairians to launch "copy parties" in public librairies and says others share his views, Liberation reports.
The concept of the copy party is simple, members bring computers, cameras, laptops and go on a copy fest inside the librairy and copy the contents of DVDs, books and CDs. "Do you find this shocking? Well, what is the first objective of a librairy? It's to distribute books and works of art," he writes.
He writes that he bases his proposal on the findings of LIonel Maurel, a librarian at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Maurel argues that recent changes in the legislation on copyright in France means members of public libraries are legally allowed to copy works in public librairies.
France is currently fighting the spread of internet piracy on peer-to-peer networks. It introduced legislation in 2009 which states that web users who are repeatedly caught illegally downloading material will see their internet cut off.
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