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Audio Format Shifting To Be OK'd In New Zealand
Bloodrage writes "The New Zealand government is about to define a small part of the rights assumed by the 'fair use' clause in the Copyright Act 1994. Essentially they are going to protect the consumers' rights to convert media from one format to another for personal use, making it clearly legal to transfer tracks from a commercial CD to a mix-CD, MP3 player, PDA, PC, 8-track, or tuned array of hummingbirds. NZ law already makes it clear that gifting or reselling items includes a transfer all of rights, including copyright, warantee, and licencing agreements, so providing your original is the genuine article you're not a criminal. An article in the The Dominion Post gives an outline of the responses from the recording industry and why the government is considering it. It boils down to; this is 'fair use' and don't argue, and that the government can't see how the alternative could be (affordably) enforced."
New Zealand has always been surprisingly progressive when it come to technology (surprising because of the decisions of some other *cough* Australian *cough* governments, not because of anything else). DVD players with region codes are illegal in New Zealand - they see it as anti-competitive and trade restrictive.
That's why I buy my stuff from NZ - the $AU coupled with the open trade agreement - no import tax - yay!
This is NOT the best sig in the world, but this IS a tribute to the best sig in the world.
FWIW here in NZ there is no 'fair use' clause allowing people to make copies for their own use. So in effect anyone who does rip any tracks from any CDs they happen to own is breaking the law. The record company execs are worried that by allowing some form of copying the floodgates will be opened.
In the article, Micheal Glading, the MD of Sony NZ mentions that he is opposed to the move.
Paradoxically, Sony NZ sell MiniDisc players here in NZ and also sell the blank MiniDiscs. No doubt, if you were to visit one of their retail outlets and enquire as to what you could use them for, you would probably be told by their reps that you can use them to copy CDs (I might even give it a go tomorrow).
The law here in NZ is an ass, because it is perfectly legal to buy devices for playback of ripped cds and also legal to buy the software for ripping cds.
The reasonable approach would be to pay a media-replacement fee, say $2 or so.
The really tricky problem is about the obsolescence of media. Let's say I bought "Dark Side of the Moon" on CD a few years ago. Now it's been re-released as an SACD with a stunning 5.1 surround mix etc etc. Have i bought the rights to "Dark Side of the Moon" as an entity, or just as a particular instance?
For the Americans, this sums up Australian politics.
Howard (aka "Little John"): Spends his time dry humping Bush's leg. Formed a "once in a lifetime" free trade agreement with the U.S. That gave us absolutely nothing, and put a shitload of aussies out of work. Is extremely vague when asked anything.
Latham: Opposition Leader. Cries like a little girl in parliment when things don't go his way. Breaks taxi driver's arms in his spare time.
Crean(aka "The invisible man"). Did absolutely nothing to try and win our votes. Superseded by Latham. Last seen ignoring people.
Beazly(aka "Big Kim"). Nobody liked him. Lost the last federal Election. Now he's better than any candidate currently running.
Pauline "Please Explain" Hanson: Fraudulently formed a political party and stole half a million dollars of tax payers money, and god knows how much in donations. Got caught. Went to Jail. Still has supporters who claim she was a political prisoner. Her only policy, EVER, was to get rid of speed cameras. Spent an hour on sixty minutes telling us that. Also tried to bring in a new tax system, the design of which she stole from someone else (who, incidently, said it wouldn't work in the real world). Last seen complaining about something.
Because if not I envision the situation becoming "you're legally entitled to copy it but good luck trying!".
they've yet to recognise gun ownership as a fundamental human right
NZ has an unwritten constitution so it is pretty hard to say which rights are recognised as fundamental. NZ'ers also have a lot of guns. Some estimates run up to about 1,000,000 guns for about 4,000,000 people (i.e. about one gun per household).