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UK Music Fans Can Copy Own Tracks
An anonymous reader writes "BBC news is reporting that music fans in the UK won't have to fear litigation from the British Phonographic Industry. Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, said 'consumers would only be penalized if they made duplicates of songs for other people.'" From the article: "Mr Jamieson also called for Apple - which makes the popular iPod portable music player - to open up its iTunes software so it is compatible with the technology of other manufacturers. Apple applies a digital protection system to its downloads, which means they are not usually compatible with other companies' devices. "
Sorry, I made an error; Time shifting is now legal and part of the UK law, http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032498.htm#19 as is making transient copies for the purpose of listening to it on say, the computer. Making entire copies of CDs for personal use, or ripping to MP3 is still technically illegal though.
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
UK copyright law has, and has always had an section for "private study" under the fair dealing exceptions. The copyright office has clarified that private study includes listening to music purely for personal enjoyment. Whether this would allow one to copy an entire song or album is a matter for consideration, but in the past, British courts have been quite permissive over private use and fair dealing. The fact that there's this exception, and no case law on the matter, means that it's quite possible that the people the BPI is not going to sue aren't breaching coyright in the first place.
Unlimited ipods, but they all have to be connected to a registered computer. With your itunes account, you can register 5 computers which are allowed to play the "fairplay" tracks, and unlimited ipods. But as soon as you connect said ipod to an unregistered computer (or one that's registered for a different account, I'm not sure on the details) the music will be unplayable until you cennect it to a registered machine.
So, if someone steals your ipod they won't be able to play the fairplay tracks. And if you have any sense you'll have backed them up somewhere.
Ofcourse it's a little different with unprotected music, but there's no law forcing DRM.
That brings me to an idea. Wouldn't it be a good if you could use a similar kind of DRM for the actual hardware itself? If it gets stolen, ss soon as someone hooks it up to an unknown computer, it locks out and becomes unusable, and can only be reactivated by hooking it up to a Computer registered on your ITMS account.
Anyways, I don't think they expect you to destroy original media if the copy has been stolen. The thing is, the thief has taken copied media that wasn't his. Even if he has physically aquired it, it isn't his, in which case he is the one violating the copyright, and he has not been aided by the original owner.