News UK looks to crack down on piracy, free up formats

So, there was already legislation in place,but not content with that legislation coupled with european legislation, the government commisioned the "gower report" costing more time and money to add legislation to the already existing legislation, with the bottom line being you can change the formats, just don't copy anything. On top of all that, they are giving 5 million pounds more money to trading standards to enforce all of this. This is all tax payers money here and when you look around you and see where that money could be better spent. So the question is, who is this expensive legislation supposed to help?

 

I think it's a good thing myself, as it clearly defines that we we are within our rights to copy our CD's/DVD's to our computer (in whatever format we choose) so long as we do not distribute those copies. Hopefully this means that we'll be able to get legal tools to strip copy protection from protected media.

 

I'm not going to join the debate about the MediaD/L vs Murder, I agree the sentences involved are stupid, I'm a believer in Capital Punishment (I'm English not American ::Shock:: ). Thats as far as I want to take "This" comment.

My main query is, given the proposial to be able to Remove DRM, copy your onw purchased goods & change the media bought (remove adverts & crap songs from otherwise good albums!), Where does that leave Microsoft, Intel, and the Motherboard makers, who after much preassure from Copyright Lawyers decided to do something.

It's all very well saying "Do what you like..." but what can you do if your Hardware won't let you? What go over here will be different to the US for example, and I very much doubt in todays "Small" world, someone like Microsoft will say,
"OK, the UK have a different policy, so they don't need DRM. We'll give them a different version of the software, that no-one in the US can get."
Within 24hrs of it being released, it'll be on the net, installed on a US machine, and someone will be breaking US law. The said person will claim it's MS's fault for making it easy and the (C)Lawyers will have a field day.

What I'm saying... Is this a case of Poison in the Suger Cube?

Relaxed laws, that we (general public) won't be able to use because of the new Hardware is not allowing us, but Worse punishment for those that do (us Geeks).

It's not going to stop the sharing of Media, whilst CD's are still stupidly over priced, and Companies shell out Stupid Sized £££ Contracts for Over Rated & Under Talented "artists". Why am I going to pay £20 for a plastic disk, when I can get for free, and copy onto the same plastic for 20p.

Imagine if you will, The removal of all Speed Cameras!! Yay!!
BUT
At the same time, all cars are fitted with speed restrictors, meaning you shouldn't be able to speed, so if the cameras were there they'd be pointless anyway.
ALSO
If you happen to "Remove / Bypass" the Restrictor, or Borrow a Car without one, and do get caught speeding, whilst less likely without cameras, you'll get either Life in Prison or the Death Penilty.

Whats that? You're still focused on the "No Speed Cameras" statement? Thats what the government would be hoping for as well.

No one here seems to care about the "Free Copyright Law" proposal, because more than likely, we already D/L stuff for free and have cracked our software to do what we want, and are focused on the "10 Year Stint". However, the general public will be more interested in the "Free to do what I like part." and not see the "10 Years" until the Judge slaps them in the face with it.

(These are my opinions, don't like them, don't read them.)

 

Interesting point, because most End User Licence agreements and copyright notices specifically say you cannot strip copy protection or make copys , some allow you to make one backup copy (so no legislation needed to make that clear) So if you are right does this mean that many EULs are not enforceable? New legislation anybody? (sorry Icccled I was replying to the previous post from Blademrk)

 

The problem with digital piracy is the fact that it's an international problem. Fine, this law will do something, but unless everyone gets together and agrees on a common action, piracy will still dominate.

 

True, but one person has to start to try and push the ball before several people can get the ball rolling.

 

IMO, until the record companies start charging sensible prices for their stuff and embrace new tech to allow us to download any song we want from an album without having to pay £20 for the CD for a few good tracks, there's going to be piracy.

To quote Paul Weller (I think)

A good case in point is allofmp3.com.
They were charging less than a dollar for most tracks and you could select any tracks you wanted from any album they had.
They were doing a roaring trade thus proving there's a huge demand for the service.

Now imagine that was legal and advertised....

Piracy would still exist but I doubt it would be anywhere near the same scale...

 

They still are, reports of their death are greatly exaggerated

And yeah, it's $0.03 per MB. So about £15 a gigabyte of music, at any quality. It's got to be the second most popular legal music distribution site(after Itunes) and it's easy to see why. I imagine it'd be even more popular if the record companies still weren't trying to cast doubt over it's legality.

 

I start thinking about Weird Al - dont downoad this song

It is a good thing that it frees things up a little bit but I suppose that for them to give a little the governents leaders in the riaa or whatever made them take some too. Thats where the possible stiffer sentence came from.

Imagine being in prison for this, "So what are you in for?" "For ripping a cd-err, for ripping a man to pieces."