news.bbc.co.uk— Copyright laws are "out of date" and must be updated so MP3 player users can make copies of CDs without breaking the law, according to a think tank.
Oct 28, 2006View in Crawl 4
This is definitely excellent progress, especially since there is direct Government interest in these findings (i.e. they know something has to be done soon)The best bit: "The report also calls for the government to reject calls from the UK music industry to extend the copyright term for sound recording beyond the current 50 years." I bloody hope so too!
It makes you wonder though.. why do we even need representatives anymore? With the internet we can all go online and vote for ourselves on important issues.
Government doesn't decide rights! Rights are inalienable, and can not be granted or revoked. If a government doesn't respect your rights, they are the criminals!
That would be the way the original democracy worked (ie, the Greek version). But think of how much controversy there is over electronic voting machines; putting the same online and accessible to all from their own homes (where officials can't supervise them) is just asking for trouble. I'd hope that one day, though, that would be the way we do it again.
That's the dumbest, most selfish thing I've ever heard. The best way to change the situation is to buy creative commons music and other music released by artists without restrictions. Stop trying to justify taking rights away from artists - whether they like it or not. Stop thinking of your act of piracy as a victimless crime - the biggest lie of this debate. If you don't like the law, buy the music that is exempted by the artist from the law, and eventually the law won't matter.
In Recording Industry Ass'n of America, Inc. v. Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc., 180 F.3d 1072 (C.A.9 1999), the Ninth circuit ruled that--as far as the United States is concerned--transferring personally-owned CDs to media players was considered a fair use and would not subject a transferror to copyright liability. UK law must be different on this point.Copying your iTunes files to another format in order to rip them to CD, however, is governed under the DMCA and is still illegal because the DMCA has no "fair use" doctrine and illegalizes "cracking" encryption systems in order to copy copyrighted stuff. Presumably this would apply to a write-protected CD as well because it too is protected by an encryption system. Remember that kid who discovered that you could repeatedly press the "shift" key and disable the RIAA's new million-dollar DRM system? The RIAA threatened to sue him for "hacking" their system under the DMCA.I agree with the user above who said we should all just pirate away. the current US copyright law was written in 1976, long before the internet revolution, and it is poorly equipped to deal with copyright realities today. The more people who pirate, the more ludicrous the law looks, and the closer we come to breaking the backs of the industry lobbyists and insiders who screw the public and the artists--who are both the supposed primary beneficiaries of copyright law.Copyrights are not "property" in the way we understand property. Everyone can know and enjoy a song. The question we should be asking is whether the law maximizes the number of songs created and enjoyed in our society. Clearly it does not.So f*ck the labels. We don't need them anymore. Pirate away :)
but making it legal to copy a CD for backup use and to transfer it to one portable device owned by you will prevent RIAUK or whatever they are called over there from using the technicality to create lawsuits, get subpoenas to discover unrelated offenses or whatever.And the 0.1% of people you don't mention don't believe they are doing anything ethically wrong when making a backup or putting a song on their iPod or whatever. To their credit, I am not aware of anyone being charged for such an offense either, so it is simply about updating the copyright law to reflect the implicit spirit of the contract.
Closed AccountOct 29, 2006
This is definitely excellent progress, especially since there is direct Government interest in these findings (i.e. they know something has to be done soon)The best bit: "The report also calls for the government to reject calls from the UK music industry to extend the copyright term for sound recording beyond the current 50 years." I bloody hope so too!
mootabolifeOct 29, 2006
It makes you wonder though.. why do we even need representatives anymore? With the internet we can all go online and vote for ourselves on important issues.
rancemoOct 29, 2006
Government doesn't decide rights! Rights are inalienable, and can not be granted or revoked. If a government doesn't respect your rights, they are the criminals!
lordluclessOct 29, 2006
That would be the way the original democracy worked (ie, the Greek version). But think of how much controversy there is over electronic voting machines; putting the same online and accessible to all from their own homes (where officials can't supervise them) is just asking for trouble. I'd hope that one day, though, that would be the way we do it again.
backwards2Oct 29, 2006
That's the dumbest, most selfish thing I've ever heard. The best way to change the situation is to buy creative commons music and other music released by artists without restrictions. Stop trying to justify taking rights away from artists - whether they like it or not. Stop thinking of your act of piracy as a victimless crime - the biggest lie of this debate. If you don't like the law, buy the music that is exempted by the artist from the law, and eventually the law won't matter.
nacharyaOct 29, 2006
Well the uk just allowed the use of itrips and other such devices only recently. It seems like they are getting thier act together on all of this
jeremybscottOct 30, 2006
In Recording Industry Ass'n of America, Inc. v. Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc., 180 F.3d 1072 (C.A.9 1999), the Ninth circuit ruled that--as far as the United States is concerned--transferring personally-owned CDs to media players was considered a fair use and would not subject a transferror to copyright liability. UK law must be different on this point.Copying your iTunes files to another format in order to rip them to CD, however, is governed under the DMCA and is still illegal because the DMCA has no "fair use" doctrine and illegalizes "cracking" encryption systems in order to copy copyrighted stuff. Presumably this would apply to a write-protected CD as well because it too is protected by an encryption system. Remember that kid who discovered that you could repeatedly press the "shift" key and disable the RIAA's new million-dollar DRM system? The RIAA threatened to sue him for "hacking" their system under the DMCA.I agree with the user above who said we should all just pirate away. the current US copyright law was written in 1976, long before the internet revolution, and it is poorly equipped to deal with copyright realities today. The more people who pirate, the more ludicrous the law looks, and the closer we come to breaking the backs of the industry lobbyists and insiders who screw the public and the artists--who are both the supposed primary beneficiaries of copyright law.Copyrights are not "property" in the way we understand property. Everyone can know and enjoy a song. The question we should be asking is whether the law maximizes the number of songs created and enjoyed in our society. Clearly it does not.So f*ck the labels. We don't need them anymore. Pirate away :)
grumpyrainOct 30, 2006
but making it legal to copy a CD for backup use and to transfer it to one portable device owned by you will prevent RIAUK or whatever they are called over there from using the technicality to create lawsuits, get subpoenas to discover unrelated offenses or whatever.And the 0.1% of people you don't mention don't believe they are doing anything ethically wrong when making a backup or putting a song on their iPod or whatever. To their credit, I am not aware of anyone being charged for such an offense either, so it is simply about updating the copyright law to reflect the implicit spirit of the contract.
Closed AccountNov 2, 2006
I'm not american. btw.
tmcdiggNov 2, 2006
Ummmmmmm.... (too late SUCKERS!)What's the difference between a light bulb and a pregnant music industry?You can unscrew a light bulb!