Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, iTunes
Are you a copyright lawbreaker?
You live in the UK. You buy a CD. You rip it to your iPod. All nice and legal, right? Apparently not, according to this article by Will Head of Web User. Head makes the case that UK law is hopelessly twisted when it comes to digital media. Only the creators of digital works have the right to transfer them to new formats. So when you buy a CD, you have only paid for the license to listen to the content as a CD. The article gives a good overview of the situation, noting that the chances of prosecution for ripping your own CDs are pretty much zip. And don't forget all those worries during the eighties that taping your record albums would kill the music industry... It didn't.
[Via BootlegTalk by Glenn Folkvord]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mrtotes said 7:30PM on 1-08-2007
Whatever. Is someone going to come and slap my wrist for recording films off Film4 on EyeTV too?
I'm not a huge music fan; if I couldn't rip a CD to .aac then I'd circumnavigate the problem and get the Limewire icon bouncing in my dock. I suspect that this is why we haven't seen a huge amount of fuss about this from the industry.
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realityking said 2:44PM on 1-09-2007
Similarly in Germany every copy Protected CD is illegal to rip. I believe this is the same in the entire EU...
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Christian said 3:32AM on 1-09-2007
It's the same situation in Germany. It is illegal to make copies for personal use (including ripping mp3s) of a CD if this involves circumventing or cracking any copy protection. Those music industry folks just don't get it.
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Stefan said 6:42PM on 1-08-2007
This law is set to change, as reported in the UK's MacUser.
the government has had a look at IP law in the UK, and decided that you should be allowed to do format shifting, as you say, but also rip someone else's stuff off by using their music as a basis for your own. Primarily so that you can satirise stuff easier.
apparently, it should be introduced in 2008.
hurrah!
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michel said 6:45PM on 1-08-2007
I simply don't care. I fucking don't care.
I _buy_ my music (on cd for example) and I copy/rip/whatever verb on MY computer, MY device for MY pleasure and only MY AND MY USE !
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Joey said 6:45PM on 1-08-2007
Wasn't this highlighted about a month ago?
Anyway, the government has realised that the rule is indeed obsolete and the last I heard, they've formed a committee looking to change the rules (Gowers Review of Intellectual Property). A plus point is that they've recommended that consumers should get the right to copy music that they own, unrestricted, but most importantly, that legislation—not the industry—should decide on the copy restrictions.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/gowers_review_intellectual_property/gowersreview_index.cfm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6214108.stm
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Paul said 9:21PM on 1-08-2007
"Its not illegal, because i dont want it to be illegal!"
In all reality i only buy music or movies, by artists i want to support, if i just wanna hear it, its gonna be free.
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Joey said 6:53PM on 1-08-2007
I might add that the Queen herself owns an iPod. I'm willing to bet that Her Majesty's CD collection is on that iPod!
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mrtotes said 9:58PM on 1-08-2007
No 4 (Joey). The Queen also now has a Podcast of her recent speeches!
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Maddles said 10:42PM on 1-08-2007
Want to rip you songs legally? Come to Australia! An amendment to a law as recently passed and now we are allowed to have as many copies of our media as we like.
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Charles said 7:29AM on 1-09-2007
Good grief. I wrote about this point in The Independent newspaper in June 2000, when reviewing how to store MP3s on an Iomega Jaz drive (anyone remember those?):
"One last note. You shouldn't do any of the above or you will be breaking the law. So says the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI): in Britain you are not allowed to transfer a copyrighted work from one format to another. Amazing, but true: "the basic rule is that you can't copy or distribute a work without the permission of the copyright holder," explains Allen Dixon, counsel for the IFPI, which represents the music industry in Europe. "But we aren't going to break anybody's door down and prosecute them for taping music."
Nice to see everyone else picking up on this..
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