A French ruling made in December but just publicised now [8 Feb 06], regarded the use of networks as legal as long as it was for personal and not commercial use. The ruling applied to both downloading and uploading copyrighted files. Go to full article>>

On one hand, this might not seem like big news, but I think that it is a major shift toward honoring user rights over the corporate content strangle-hold. Digital rights management technology and laws seek to bind content so tightly that even a purchase won’t guarantee your unhindered use. And suppose you want to comment or critique that content? If it is unavailable to you, it makes fair use (under US law) impossible to exercise. I’m not sure that US law will follow the French where our coporate lobby is so strong, but I always find it encouraging when I see people getting what they deserve in the eyes of the law.