Copyright overkill
Submitted by Dr. Prole on Wed, 01/09/2008 - 20:56.
Over at what is fast becoming a must-read for me, Art Threat informs me of something that I didn't know - ripping a CD to your computer is illegal in the UK. It may change soon, but details are murky. Go read. *Plus, I LOVE Spaceballs too.
That news
almost made me lose my Schwartz ring.
Didn't know that about the UK.
Everything's cheaper than it looks.
The UK is OK...
It's the US and us that is the problem. The RIAA (evil evil evil) the ones who are suing everyone they can stateside for P2P sharing and using all sorts of unsavory spying techniques to get their information are now giving Minster Con Prentice ideas. He was about to table a bill just before Christmas but the outcry via Facebook and email was tremendous and he backed down.
Now he is to reintroduce it this month or next and he would do worse than to study what the Brits are putting together.
Best info for us in Canada is our own Michael Geist. This link he talks about the UK's take on it all. Public consultation, can you imagine? Oh, and there is a link to yesterdays Province about levy's on all electronics, such as MP3 players, laptops, anything that can play music. Even if you don't use it for music. And the stores want people to rebel! lol.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2542/125/
This next is the site in the states of the lawyers for the people who are fighting the RIAA. Pro bono for the most part I think. Jammie (shot, I forget her last name) was the first to not cave to a settlement and went to court. She lost but they are appealing. Single mom. Jury found for the record companies something like $9750 a song. Such BS! But it's a great site. What goes on down there is what very likely what may be in store for us. It may be what some want for here.(?!)
"Important Article by Wired.com about RIAA's position that ripping cd's to mp3's is unlawful"
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com
And of course the stupidity of it all is that the "artists" do not see a single nickel of the fines or awards or whatever. It's a dead business model. I truly don't see what they hope to accomplish by alienating their customers. Eventually that has got to blow up in their collective faces big time. Whoever they are.
And ArsTechnica too, http://arstechnica.com , great for filling in the blanks.
The rules are going to change soon. OOOda started it with Bernia and their movie deals and the bs about how much piracy/ camcording was coming out of Canada. Lots of new laws and I think they have busted one guy. Go Cons. Go. Go Away.
Thanx for Art Threat, I've added it to my list.
Geo