“P2P is like stealing a CD from a shop!” “We have to protect artists who are being robbed by consumers on the Internet”. Big music and film companies are continuously feeding us claims like this on television, on the street and in the newspapers - painting private consumers as pirates and criminal. The same companies publish guides telling consumers what they cannot do in the digital world. For these companies, consumers have no rights in buying CDs, DVDs or other digital material - apart from a few generously bestowed exceptions!

Under the heading of Digital Rights Management (DRM) new technologies are being used to limit or prohibit perfectly legitimate practices. “Exemplary" legal cases are being prosecuted and users threatened with huge penalties for downloading music or films on the Internet. The industry hides behind the artists that it claims to defend, alienating their fans and supporters.

We know that there is a serious global problem of piracy. Consumers should not buy counterfeit copies of CDs and DVDs; too often these products are made in large numbers by organised criminal, and probably also terrorist, gangs. On the other hand, private consumers are not criminals or terrorists and the industry must stop portraying them as such.

The time has come to guarantee consumers certain basic rights in the digital world, and to tell them what they can do with their digital hardware/content. This is our message in this campaign.


On this website we invite you to discover everything you always wanted to know about your consumer rights in the digital environment.

Are you a politician? The Documents section will interest you, as well as the facts and figures in our Tests section. We also invite you to have a look at the Interviews about consumers in the digital world and the Declaration of rights.

For beginners we recommend to start with the Glossary section, then to plunge yourself into the articles by our member organisations, and finally to refer to the Declaration, which will inform you of your rights.

For confirmed users, we recommend the FAQ pages or downloading free of charge the logo or the CD music tracks.

The Press Corner is intended for journalists, with useful information on our past, present and future events. Here you will find our press releases, contacts across Europe and the results of the tests.

Finally, other sections are devoted to Case histories (preferably with happy endings, but not always), to frequently asked questions – FAQ - (with answers) and to links to the websites of your national consumer organisations working in this area. All our visitors are invited to leave their Ideas in the suggestions box.

But let’s not spoil the surprise effect and the pleasure of discovery. We invite you to visit this website as you wish, from left to right, from bottom to top, diagonally... that’s your right of choice as a consumer.