> Not in any country that is part of the big international IP agreements (Berne convention, Paris Act).
Poland signed Berne convention in 1919, has "well regulated" copyright, but still downloading all media (except for software) for personal use is fully legal. Tax on "empty media" is in place as well.
No it isn't.
Format shifting and personal copying are legal in Poland, but you as an individual still have to have legally obtained your original in the first place to exercise that right, and an illicit download certainly doesn't count. Taxing "empty media" is to compensate for those format shifting rights, but it doesn't cover renumeration for acquiring media in the first place (and indeed no EU member state could operate such a scheme - they are prohibited by EU Directive 2001/29 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A...).
> Format shifting and personal copying are legal in Poland, but you as an individual still have to have legally obtained your original in the first place to exercise that right, and an illicit download certainly doesn't count.
Like everywhere else where personal copies are legal and you can download them. If both conditions are true, then the mere fact that you are downloading it, it's not a sign you are downloading pirated content.
OTOH there is also Spain where piracy with no direct monetary gain is tolerated and nobody goes after people torrenting.
Yes it is. As long as the content was intentionally distributed by the rights holder (for example a movie had its premiere) you can legally download it from anywhere and use it for your own (and your friends) enjoyment however you please. You can't make it (or even the content you bought) available to people who aren't your actual friends (random people on the internet).
That's the Polish law, both the letter and the implementation. On at least one occasion the police issued an official statement saying exactly that.
I think no one was ever fined in Poland for incidental upload while using bittorrent protocol to download. There are high profile cases for people who where publishing large amounts of media files, especially commercially. Little more than a decade ago there was one case where some company tried to go after bittorrent downloaders of 3 specific Polish movies. But I think it was ultimately thrown out or cheaply settled because no case like that has been publicized ever since and everybody who knows how to use bittorent, does.
Again, it covers everything except for software that has more restrictive laws more similar to what you think the law is.
Tax on empties was set up long time ago to support creators who's music is shared among friends directly. It's was not intended to compensate for downloads. I think only Polish artists receive any money from this (I might be wrong on that) and the organization that distributes the money is highly inefficient. They tried to extend the tax to electronic devices, but nobody likes them, companies and people both, so they didn't get too far with this proposal for now.
Poland enjoys a lot of digital freedoms and is conscious of them and ready to defend them against ACTA, Chat Control and extend them with Stop Killing Games.