Kate, no, I'm clueless there, but as you've probably been able to discern from my absence from all the best corners of the internet (excluding brief exclamations here at moz-solo), I haven't been keeping up with... really anything at all except Morrissey's setlists.
This page has a listing of all U.S. legislation relating to the legal issues surrounding mp3s; I don't know what the comparable legislation is in Britain. You (tried to) read something in German? I gather it was about a global initiative or something?
In the U.S., the big piece of legislation is the
Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, but it mainly focuses on the machines/equipment used to make duplicate copies, not the duplicate copies themselves. For instance, making/distributing a 'digital audio recorder' that lacks the Serial Copy Management System (or a similar system) is prohibited. Well, that's precisely what computers are, in part (a digital audio recorder with no SCMS). But nobody could possibly stop the distribution of computers on such grounds, nor even iTunes this late in the game. Anyway, the parts of the Act pertaining to copying music are basically about the machines, not about the copies. A computer, by the language of the act, is a 'prohibited' digital audio recorder that isn't to be 'manufactured, sold, or distributed' - big 'ha ha ha' on that one, of course. On the other hand, what is the status of media written (for personal use) from a 'prohibited' machine? It doesn't say, presumably because never thought anyone would be able to buy a prohibited machine on the mass market.
Of course, it's under the auspices of making a backup copy that people rip their CDs to computer in the first place, and then share them over the net - so, I'm sure certain powers-that-be would like to disallow even a single backup copy, thus effectively outlawing copying CDs to computer, thus thwarting downloads. But again, it's far far too late for that.
(Incidentally, in the U.S., you can make as many analog copies of your music as you want.)
OK, that was probably more than anybody needed to hear.
xo, math+