On Sun, 4 Mar 2007, Andy Smith wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 03, 2007 at 02:34:16PM -0000, Rob Malpass wrote:
> > This isn't particularly Linux, but please bear with me - a few
> > questions:
> >
> > 1) Am I right in saying you can copy DVDs to your hard disk or
> > whatever if you own the DVD? I presume this is as legal as ripping
> > CDs to our mp3 players which as far as I know is legal
>
> Both are illegal, currently. That is the subject of this petition:
> http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/privatecopy/
>
> As you can see, the government now agrees that an exception should
> be made for personal backup copies, but this exception has not yet
> been made. Therefore it is still illegal to do what you propose
> both for DVDs and for CDs (for those that say "all rights reserved"
> and then don't grant you the right to copy, obviously, not all CDs
> and DVDs, just almost all of them you buy).
>
> I am not aware of anyone that has ever been prosecuted for having
> backup copies.
I'm not so up-to-date with the current situation .. things have changes
since I used to do this. In the past you could by a license that allowed
copying for `private use'. It cost little, but people still didn't buy
it.
The licensing for this is/was done by the Performing Rights Society. It
still is and they do still take people to court, though this is more
often `public performance' issues than copying for personal use. The PRS
are the people who collect the monies from radio station and the like to
pay a percentage to the artistes.
`Public Performance' is a sore point with many people who've been sued,
as, for example, playing a radio in a shop is classed as public
performance, despite the fact that the broadcaster is already paying for
the very same public performance. I've even heard of builders on
building sites being threatened, if not actually being sued for playin
the radio so that it can be heard by the public, and that playing one's
HiFi to loud might attact similar attention. I honestly don't know how
much of that is sabre rattling, how much is urban myth and how much is
jobsworth.
As far as I'm aware, this remains a civil issue not a legal issue, so I
believe there is no `prosecution' possible, just a civil case for
damages/costs.
G.
--
Gordon Scott http://www.gscott.co.uk
Linux ... Because I like to *get* there today.
