Slashdot Mirror
Norway Considers New Copyright Laws
bizpile writes "The Norwegian government is considering a change to copyright laws that would make it illegal to rip a CD to MP3s when copy protection is in place on the CD. However, you would still be allowed to copy from one CD to another regardless of copy protection. Gisle Hannemyr, of the University of Oslo's Department of Informatics, responded by saying "We are going to be a nation of lawbreakers if this law is passed in its current form." The new proposal would allow fines and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for violating copyrights and engaging in computer piracy."
If mp3s are outlawed, only outlaws will have mp3s.
From reading Slashdot, I thought Europe was a utopia with perfect and just laws.
Sooo... copy from protected to unprotected CD... then rip to MP3 :-)
It may stop a few people from ripping music, but most will do it anyway. It won't stop piracy. They should spend the time they would be enforcing pointless laws like that thinking up better ways to fix real problems (drugs, etc), not trying to stop people from putting music on their mp3 players or computers.
that would make it illegal to rip a CD to MP3s
:)
So ripping CD to ogg is OK?
You buy your iPod. -- Legal
You buy a CD -- Legal
You want to listen to "Your" music you bought on the iPod you bought and now you are breaking the law?
Crikey, this is getting ridiculous...
Sheeesh, at least all of the WMV files I have don't have copy.....
Oh wait...
Good it's about time they put these dangerous criminals behind bars! Obviously these people are the real problem in society, not those who commit crimes such as robbery, murder, assault, rape, etc. Really? By changing the storage format of something you can be send to jail? I knew the world had gone mad, but it's always nice to see a bit of conformation every now and then.
Bringing up the subject of a recent Slashdot article-- what's the penalty for actual theft in the traditional "go in, take it and walk out without paying for it" sense in Norway? Would the penalty for copyright infringement be worse or better by comparison?
All I know about Bush is I had a good job when Clinton was president.
This is why fair use is a good thing.
Here in america we're supposedly protected, and our rights are slowly being torn down. In Norway it looks like they're just being negated.
I'm all for people getting paid for their work, but to tell me that I can't use something I paid for in a way that I want, that's getting into big Govt. Where they dictate what you say and do because of their own interests instead of the peoples interests.
If we don't stand up to this kind of crap all over the world there will no longer be a "free" nation where people can live without oppression.
And BTW, I break no encryption or copy protection when I rip a cd to mp3 with my stereo and laptop, one plays the cd and one records the mic input directly into mp3 format. They can never stop this with any copy protection method. EVER.
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
And what happens when they start to crack down on people? They gonna jail everyone? Will the police arrest people with earphones and check if they have a MP3 player?
"For example, a CD's (security code) could be cracked to play a recording on a car stereo, since a CD-player would be seen as an appropriate medium," the news release said. "But the security code could not be cracked to copy the recording onto an MP-3 player, since such a device would not be seen as an appropriate for a CD."
Ahh that's classic.
Who knew an mp3 player wasn't appropriate for playing music.
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
"For example, a CD's (security code) could be cracked to play a recording on a car stereo, since a CD-player would be seen as an appropriate medium," the news release said. "But the security code could not be cracked to copy the recording onto an MP-3 player, since such a device would not be seen as an appropriate for a CD."
I do security
And if you wonder what the InfoSoc directive is: It is basically EUs copy of the DMCA, only a bit worse.
Really, it's interesting that such anti-consumer laws can get passed in the first place. I consider this phenomenon to be due to an interesting historical accident (of sorts).
Copyright laws weren't intended to affect consumers at all. They were written back in the days when "copying" a work meant pressing an unlicensed copy of a record, or printing an unlicensed copy of a book. Consumers didn't own record presses or printing presses, and thus weren't affected at all. The only people affected by these laws for many many many years were companies.
It makes sense to have heavy fines for corporations who attempt to make money off of other corporations' copyrighted work. The $150,000 per copy (or whatever) maximum fines for copyright violation make more sense in that context (though arguably are still ridiculously high).
However, in the Internet age, virtually anyone can make a perfect copy of virtually any data. Thus, we see those same $150,000 per copy (or whatever) maximum fines being used to threaten Joe Teenager from copying an MP3 from his friend. In this context, the amount is patently absurd.
Companies may or may not realize how absurd and out-of-context their exploitation of these laws are, but they are going to ride them as long as they're allowed to (n.b.: This may well be "forever"). Thus, the laws originally intended to keep shady companies from getting rich off of each others' hard work are now being used primarily to keep the consumers in line. I don't expect this trend to stop any time soon.
As I keep saying: Y'know all those sci-fi novels that predicted a future run by giant megacorps who ruthlessly control their consumers, but the consumers are largely too sheeplike to care? Well, that future is now.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
That thing I think is so absurd about this is the fact they have forgotten the most important reason for being able to transform media, obsolescence.
No, I think they have it very much in mind.
What happens when the CD format is gone and there are no more CD-players?
Then obviously you'll have to pay the recording industry for the privilege of continuing to listen to the music you previously bought.
And, of course, that's the entire point. You have to remember who these laws are being passed for the benefit of. This isn't about money, or about preventing piracy. It's about allowing the current form of the recording industry to dictate the terms under which people are and are not allowed to listen to music. Mp3 ripping represents the capacity for consumers to remove all limitations on how they use the music they have purchased; therefore it has to go.
Even it they industry argues they can resell it in the new form, who is to say they will still exist to do so?
I wouldn't worry about that. If further threats to the continued existence of the recording industry in its current form appear, then they'll just have those outlawed too.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
*** "The Norwegian government has shown a broad vision that is unique in Europe," said the group's secretary general Per Morten Hoff. He praised the law for recognizing the industry's right to protect copyrighted material. ***
...
Vision that is unique? LOL! With the currently changing markets for music formats - no one wants a portable cd player any more, everyone wants a portable mp3/wmv player - Norway's vision is ensuring either their population breaks the law, or sales of music cd's will plummet.
Their right to protect copyrighted material is going to be guaranteed by the time they're finished -- no one is going to be interested in the material at all by the time all those criminal convictions of illegal mp3 rippings take place.
Buy a music cd? Hell no, who needs the trouble that causes.
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you