CD Ripper 'Incites Law Breaking,' Says British Regulator

Barence writes "A British firm has been banned from advertising a CD ripping device because it 'incites law breaking.' The Brennan JB7 is 'a CD player with a hard disk that stores up to 5,000 CDs.' The adverts for the Brennan highlight the convenience of ripping your entire CD collection to the device – much like we've all been doing for years on our PCs, iPods and other MP3 players. The Advertising Standards Authority has banned the ads after concluding 'that the ad misleadingly implied it was acceptable to copy CDs, vinyl and cassettes without the permission of the copyright owner.'"

Comments

Technically true

[TheRaven64]

Format shifting is illegal in the UK. Fixing this, and adding explicit fair use provisions, are both things that David Cameron has proposed. Whether they'll actually be done is another matter. It's quite ludicrous that, as it stands, we have a law that pretty much everyone in the UK has violated.

Re:Technically true

[SmallMonkeyPirate]

Yes she is, as her person is considered the crown and sovereign and the courts are in fact her her courts, she is immune from prosecution. Last time a British monarch was in court, was Charles back in the 17th century, he was charged with treason.

Re:Technically true

[Opportunist]

This ain't PETA. We're talking about a bunch of treehuggers who staged protests and showed videos of animals being tortured for fur. The Austrian police sent covert investigators into the group, they tapped phones, they pretty much kept them under the microscope for at the very least a year (during which they were quite active), but they made painfully sure that they stay within the laws. Their only major crime was to go against a clothing chains with good ties to one of the ruling parties around here, nothing else warranted anything like the expense that's been spent to keep them under surveillance and examine them. Yet despite the insane efforts, the trial has been going on for months now with little if anything against them but hearsay and possible-maybes. Nobody saw them or heard them even support one of the more radical groups, actually the covert investigators had to admit that their "leader" often complained how they "tarnish" the efforts and how they're wrong in their choice of means.

Re:It IS acceptable to copy CDs etc.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not in the UK.

Hercules CD HDD + CD Player

[RotateLeftByte]

more than 7 years ago I purchased a Hercules 80Gb mp3(256Kbit recording) device. It has Line-in recording (for turn tables), A CD drive so you
can play and rip CD's. It also has USB so that you can copy the files to another device.
I got it from Richter Sounds in Reading at one of their open box sales. Great device.

The device that has been banned is really nowt new at all. I suppose my bit of kit is illegal too..?

The ban is all down to the Music industry seeing their grim reaper on the horizon.
FWIW, I've been buying lots of 12in disks the past few years and digitising them. Listening to some classic 60's albums has reawakend my interest in Music but in the main there is hardly anything coming onto the market now as a New Release (As opposed to a re-issue) that interests me then I'll stick to 50's->70's Rock, Blues & Jazz thank you very much.
If any /. reader has a CD of the Beaver & Krause Album 'All Good Men' then I'd be interested in purchasing it. The Cat peed over my 12in Album and side 2 is ruined.

Re:Its hardly surprising

[SimonTheSoundMan]

Yes we do. It is called "fair dealing".

It is perfectly legal to make a copy if you own the master copy.

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Or a quick factsheet http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law

Acts that are allowed

Fair dealing is a term used to describe acts which are permitted to a certain degree without infringing the work, these acts are:

        Private and research study purposes.
        Performance, copies or lending for educational purposes.
        Criticism and news reporting.
        Incidental inclusion.
        Copies and lending by librarians.
        Acts for the purposes of royal commissions, statutory enquiries, judicial proceedings and parliamentary purposes.
        Recording of broadcasts for the purposes of listening to or viewing at a more convenient time, this is known as "time shifting".
        Producing a back up copy for personal use of a computer program.
        Playing sound recording for a non profit making organisation, club or society.

        (Profit making organisations and individuals should obtain a license from PRS for Music.)

Ban BMW too?

[laing]

My car can rip CDs to the internal hard drive too. Should we also ban the production and sale of all BMW cars equipped with iDrive?

Re:Assholes Stifling Advertising

[gnasher719]

If this Brennan JB7 device is illegal, so is iTunes. Is the ASA now banning any adverts from Apple that mention the software?

The ASA acts if someone complains. Maybe nobody complained about Apple. Maybe someone complained, and Apple changed the adverts. Maybe Apple mentioned in their adverts that you mustn't copy music without permission of the copyright holder.

And the device isn't banned, the advertisement is (in it's current form). The company has been told what they need to do: Add a notice that you need permission before copying CDs.

Re:Doesn't any computer, then, "incite law breakin

[DarkVader]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ECN4ZE9-Mo

Rip. Mix. Burn.