News - UK government to legalise CD ripping

[HEXUS]

Changes to UK copyright laws will allow consumers to legally copy their CDs and DVDs on to devices such as the iPod.

Read more.

[BobF64]

And, no doubt, the movie industry will still complain and protest and insist that any software designed to convert a DVD to another format is horribly illegal.

[Biscuit]

Is the digital economy act the one which is being used to block Newsbin?

[[GSV]Trig]

And, no doubt, the movie industry will still complain and protest and insist that any software designed to convert a DVD to another format is horribly illegal.

Thats the movie industrys fault for not taking advantage of the internet and moving with the times..
Same could be said for TV stations..

[TheAnimus]

So they are doing something about the Mandy Bill? Took them long enough.

These barstards are less crap than the previous lot, but they aren't half slow to fix some obvious problems, what were they doing all those years in opposition...

[Saracen]

Is the digital economy act the one which is being used to block Newsbin?

Several bits of legislation are in the mix, but no, it's the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, as amended by the requirements of |E|U directives as few years ago. Section 95, IIRC.

[oolon]

OMG(dess) a sensible government policy that reflects what is happening on the ground rather than sticking their head in the sand and hoping things were different... what is the world coming to!

[format]

About 10 years late, but I suppose its good news.

[Tattysnuc]

about bloomin time!

Now, about those old VHS videos that I have with recorded BBC dramas......

[Saracen]

The government is today expected to abolish laws preventing UK consumers from making digital copies of their own CDs and DVDs for personal use.

Just for the sake of clarity, in case anyone reads that as the law changing today, the law is not changing today, or any time real soon. All that's happened today is that the government has published it's response to, and agreement with, the Hargreaves report, and announced it will bring forward proposals to change the law.

Nor, actually, is it abolishing anything. It's proposing to add to copyright law by adding limited exemptions for personal copying, among other things that it regards (correctly) as much more important. The effect will be to make something that's currently technically illegal legal, thereby bringing the law into line with what happens already in practice. But exactly what changes they make, and quite to what extent personal copying becomes legal (in a year or two, if it actually happens at all) is not yet clear.

Also, bear in mind that Green Paper about 5 years ago that recommended this, and we then got a Digital Economy Act, passed through just under the wire in the tidy up before the last election, with the connivance of the Tories, and that didn't deliver this, despite it being anticipated, it light of that Green Paper.

Anyway, hopefully, this time it'll happen, but the proposals for consultation aren't due until the Autumn and it'll be at least next year before any law changes.

[kscutejoke07]

thanks for update it...............

[cameronlite]

Anyway, hopefully, this time it'll happen, but the proposals for consultation aren't due until the Autumn and it'll be at least next year before any law changes.

Ok guys, looks like we'll have to continue stockpiling cd's, like we have for the last decade, waiting for the day that it's legal to copy cds.

[Saracen]

Ok guys, looks like we'll have to continue stockpiling cd's, like we have for the last decade, waiting for the day that it's legal to copy cds.

And that may still not become legal. The proposal, in relation to personal copying at least, is about limited exceptions for format shifting. Only waiting to see what comes out will tell us what we can and can't (legally) do. Which of course is very different from what vast numbers have been doing in practice for a very long time .... knocking on for 50 years, I'd think, since the introduction of audio cassettes at least, and even reel-to-reel tape before that.

[cptwhite_uk]

I'm glad that UK law is keeping up with the times , it's only ~12 years behind...

[Brewster0101]

Good news.. Soon(ish) I will be able to get a piece of software an put all my DVDs onto my NAS box and stream to my TV without having to hash it all....

[watercooled]

Great news if it means what it sounds like, but what is their stance on bypassing copy protection I wonder? Saying you can rip DVDs but not bypass copy protection would be a bit pointless. In fact having copy protection in the first place becomes a bit pointless in light of this...

Oh and about them not legalising sharing said media over the Internet - if that became legal it would go well on the way to completely destroying the industry, so to think it should be legal is a bit idiotic really.