Illegal forum topics - where do you draw the line HEXUS?

[alterion]

Out of interest have there ever been any cases on internet forums being sued for content on thier message boards?

[vincent]

Out of interest have there ever been any cases on internet forums being sued for content on thier message boards?

Nah ,simply because of Human Rights of Freedom of Speech Rquirements

many admins just delete the topic,ban the member for breachin the terms they agreed to once registering

[autopilot]

err what about UMD movies? They are available all over the place, play.com would be an example..it is a portable video player no need to illegal dvd ripping/tv recording etc etc

No offence, but you completely missed the point of what i was saying

[autopilot]

Havnt got time to read your entire post right now as Im going out, I hope I got the right jist, the PSP can play movies from the memory card, so ripping should be allowed?

If thats your arguement, it doesnt allow legal ripping of DVDs, I think its merely for home movies (From digital camera, like the view your own pictures capability) And also possibly mpegs you can download from sites, like cats flying at walls which have no copywrite on them.

Please read the rest then

Can we please forget about the PSP example as i don't think people can see what i am getting at. Probably not explain myself very well to be fair.

EDIT: I fact they might as well delete this thread too! I think i just confused people with what was of asking and thread is not doing what aimed to achieve. Hoping to get a little more from the mods too. Never mind! Tally ho

[Stoo]

Nah ,simply because of Human Rights of Freedom of Speech Rquirements

many admins just delete the topic,ban the member for breachin the terms they agreed to once registering

Actually, several have been threatened with legal action in the past, hence why mods tend to delete anything iffy, as it's a given that the person that set the laywers on you will have far more money than you..

[Nick]

Dom, the thing is, you kinda answered your own question with the opening post.

We have, and will continue to, lock and delete threads that supply useful information to those wishing to produce pirated material of any sort.

Whilst we could debate what is and isn't illegal, how likely it is that any prosecution could be brought etc etc, what HEXUS doesn't want to be is the 'test case' where the big guys win.

The problem is that anyone wishing to rip a homemade DVD of their mate's wedding shouldn't actually have any trouble as this won't be subject to level of encryption commercial DVDs are and is therefore dead easy to copy... if you can save files to an HDD and then revurn to a dvd you've got it cracked.

However, when someone starts asking about slightly more involved methods, alarm bells start ringing. I honestly can't think of any home DVD authoring software that adds copy protection...

For example:
If you're trying to rip your mate's wedding video, you should actually be going back to the guy who shot the video... and if that's you, how come you seem to have suddenly forgotten how to rip the DVD you already did? And if it isn;t you, perhaps it was done professionally, in which case the DVD is copyrighted and therfore you're breaking the law...

Another example :
You want to rip your DVD collection to then save wear and tear on the originals. Fair enough, but as stated before, unless it specifically says in the license statement that you can make back ups, you're breaking the law.

So all in all, it's pretty damn hard to find an example where you'd need to legitimately copy a DVD using anything other than software commercially available... which inhibits copying copyrighted and encrypted DVDs.

You can cite 'fair use' as an excuse, which is perfectly fine, but these are public forums and though helping out one legitimate user might be fine, what about the 20 would-be pirates who also read the thread?

Now you can argue that the law is a bit vague in some areas, which is fair enough and it is a bit of a grey area for sure. The thing is, standing in the middle of a motorway, there's a chance you won't get hit by a car...

So rather than flirt with the law and risk becoming a landmark trial case, HEXUS errs on the side of caution and will continue to do so.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but if Sony decided to bring their legal weight to bear on us, it'd be like edging the lawn with a napalm airburst...

[Ramedge]

Actually, several have been threatened with legal action in the past, hence why mods tend to delete anything iffy, as it's a given that the person that set the laywers on you will have far more money than you..

i feel its abit sad really, sueing someone for something you said on the internet a place were there are no real rules and any body should be allowed freedom of speach you especially cant talk about how you feel (depending on what exactly you do say) towards certain companys/coperations on widley used forums such as this one were lots of people browse each day and when i saw talk i mean somthing that could in a way damaging to a certain company most likley in a small way e.g copying dvd's.

I guess when you do start a thread on a certain topic you just need to think about what it is your posting, use abit of sence
I am sure every one gets the idea, its pretty simple

any way i need to stop waffling on.

[Oakey]

and remember, that's all you get - a licence to play it in the format as sold - from a CD purchase.

Has that even been established? Isn't that one of the major arguments? What are we actually buying? The CD, or a license?

Regarding the thread that was locked, why are threads on DV Doctor forums that are acceptable then? I can see right now a thread asking how to convert a DVD to AVI.

[dangel]

Has that even been established? Isn't that one of the major arguments? What are we actually buying? The CD, or a license?

Just because something is tangible doesn't mean you truely own anything

[directhex]

I have a feeling it is.

legally its probably the same as taping your records / cd's for the car.

I think the "fair use" definition hasn't been extended to mp3's officially.

there are no fair use laws in the uk.

transcribing from one format to another, even for personal use, is explicitly disallowed in the 1988 copyright, designs & patents act

[Stringent]

I can understand the illegal copying of DVDs etc. What isn't really clear is about ripping tracks of CD's for personal use. I rip the tracks off my CD's so I can put it on my iPod. Therefore all MP3's are on my hard drive. Is this illegal? Also I admit I copy my CD's and stick the copys in the car, so if the car gets broken into, I still have the originals. If the originals were in the car and got stolen, I'd have to find proof of purchase for each CD that was in the car. How many of us actually keep the recipts for CDs?

[directhex]

Not at all, it's just unpolicable so there's nothing they can do about it. Does anyone remember when they tried to introduce legislation that said how long you could keep a video of a television programme post-transmission? Wasn't it something like 30 odd days? Ridiculous!

that's part of CDPA1988 - recording from the telly is only permitted for "time shifting" purposes; to watch someting at a more conventient time, not to archive it.

[directhex]

I can understand the illegal copying of DVDs etc. What isn't really clear is about ripping tracks of CD's for personal use.

yes, it is clear

I rip the tracks off my CD's so I can put it on my iPod. Therefore all MP3's are on my hard drive. Is this illegal?

yes.

Also I admit I copy my CD's and stick the copys in the car, so if the car gets broken into, I still have the originals.

also illegal. good innit.

[Stringent]

Then MP3 devices should be banned. Simple, they make people break the law if thats the case.

[directhex]

so if you download a song say from itunes to your pc and then COPY that song to your ipod/mp3 player, then technically you are breaking the law or does itunes et al have a clause that allows you to copy the music? (DRM won't matter the act of coppying seems to be all that matters)

you didn't read your license from apple? it's here

note:

You shall be authorized to use the Products only for personal, noncommercial use.

You shall be authorized to use the Products on five Apple-authorized devices at any time.

bear in mind there's also the following:

d. You acknowledge that some aspects of the Service, Products, and administering of the Usage Rules entails the ongoing involvement of Apple. Accordingly, in the event that Apple changes any part of the Service or discontinues the Service, which Apple may do at its election, you acknowledge that you may no longer be able to use Products to the same extent as prior to such change or discontinuation, and that Apple shall have no liability to you in such case

which translates as "we can change the rules at any time, and there's **** all you can do about it (yes, changes apply to already-purchased tracks)"

[directhex]

Then MP3 devices should be banned. Simple, they make people break the law if thats the case.

substantial non-infringing uses. see the scores of precedent cases relating to VHS/BetaMax