Steve talks about the UK enacting the EU copyright policy and calls it the EU version of DMCA.
Well, from his description and the recent laws being discussed in Germany it's kind of obvious that different countries of the EU have very different views of what would be required to follow the EU.
Let's use music CDs as an example. Under German law you have the right to take private copies of a CD you've purchased, you may even take copies for your friends (as long as you do so for a limited number of friends and don't charge money for it).
This remains true even with the new copyright laws in Germany, with some silly changes. You still are allowed to make copies if you can. But it is illegal to defeat a copy protection mechanism, or to distribute software that can disable copy protection - I don't know whether pressing the Shift key is now illegal as well. You may even copy MP3s you've obtained, unless it is from an "obviously illegal" source.
How copy protected CDs and the right to obtain private copies can get together is still in some kind of flux. Things like shipping three CDs instead of one per box are being discussed.
Oh, if you have any legal problems getting your Tour de France coverage next year, Steve, we can certainly arrange something for the German coverage. You won't understand the famous commenters Emig and Watterot, but I wouldn't say you'd miss much either. I expect next year's media coverage in Germany to even exceed this year's hype now that Jan Ullrich has re-joined Team Telekom (will be T-Mobile next year).
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