[Cthulhu_]

I'm pretty sure the 'home copy' law doesn't allow you to copy stuff from the library; these works still fall under copyright law, after all, and each of them has a big disclaimer in the front saying no part of it may be copied.

The 'home copy' law is so you can create copies for your own use of material you bought yourself, as long as you keep it to yourself - things like transferring a CD to your mp3 player.

Similarly, it is (was?) legal to download copyrighted material to your own computer for your own use, if you already owned the material.

There is/was another loophole in the copyright law, which states it's not allowed to distribute copyrighted material. However, this law doesn't state anything about receiving and using copyrighted material; it's the distributor / uploader that's responsible for that. And since, in the case of internet piracy, that uploader is often not under Dutch jurisdiction, it kinda falls on its face.

[cyphax]

> I'm pretty sure the 'home copy' law doesn't allow you to copy stuff from the library

But it does. :)

It is explained here: http://www.iusmentis.com/auteursrecht/nl/thuiskopie/ but it is in Dutch. It states that: - You may make only a few copies but it's unspecified how many that is.

- The copy has to be for personal use

- You may make the copy for someone else, but this is not true for music

- You don't have to own the material you want to copy

- There are some exceptions, namely electronic databases (paper database are allowed), physical structures (no copying other buildings please!) and computer software