The Danish government is preparing a law that will legalize the downloading of music from the Internet, a government spokesman confirmed, angering copyright holders. Elsebeth Nielsen, the Danish Minister for Culture, wants to relax the country's private copying law.. . .
The Danish government is preparing a law that will legalize the downloading of music from the Internet, a government spokesman confirmed, angering copyright holders. Elsebeth Nielsen, the Danish Minister for Culture, wants to relax the country's private copying law.

Danes currently aren't allowed to make any copies of digital media such as CDs. The proposed rules, however, will give Danes more rights then many other Europeans.

"We will make it legal to make digital copies for personal use," said ministry spokesman Kenneth Jorgensen.

As an example Jorgensen said Danes would be allowed to make a copy of a CD for use in their car, a form of offline copying allowed in many countries. The proposed law would also make it legal for Danes to copy music from the Internet to their PC, Jorgensen said. Downloading of copyright material without the consent of the rights holder is illegal in most European countries as is the sharing of copyright material.