Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

I read in newspaper that copying music for personal use (e.g. ripping CDs on to hard drive or mp3 player) is illegal in UK.

Surprised? I was.

They surveyed people and found that 55% of adults did not know this (I'm surprised ANYBODY knew). Now, of course, for legal purposes I have to state I have never done such a thing and wouldn't know how. But, uhh, the law looks like a bit of an ass on this one. Since there is no legal difference between copying music you have paid for and music you haven't... you might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, right? These are old laws, granted, framed before the existence of mp3... but NOT before the existence of copying technology per se (e.g. cassette). It puts me in mind of the contemptuous FBI warnings seen on US EMI Jazz issues.

Why are music consumers constantly criminalised? What does the music industry gain, except to generate the determination of consumers to undermine them?

Posted

It is a ridiculous situation, especially with the popularity of MP3 players. But the music industry is ready to make concessions:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/10/bpi_talks_ripping/

Thanks for the link, Claude. On my reading, I wouldn't exactly say that they are willing to make concessions:

BPI spokesman Matt Philips said: "Our submission to the Gowers Review does not say that the law should be changed to allow private copying. The submission states that we are willing to explore options to clarify what behaviour should be deemed acceptable for the consumer.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...