UK Lifts DVD, MP3, CD Copying Restrictions, If You're Disabled

[Karloff]

UK Lifts DVD, MP3, CD Copying Restrictions, If You're Disabled

PM Cameron's government remains committed to lifting copying restrictions for all, as soon as Parliament agrees.

The UK government has been promising for some time to lift restrictions on copying DVDs, MP3 and CDs, allowing people to back up their data as they see fit so long as it's kept for personal use only. This significant change to copyright law was supposed to be in place by the summer, but there's been some delay on that front, and Parliament has yet to issue its seal of approval. However the government has announced that the disabled and disability groups can "now make accessible copies of copyright material (eg music, film, books) when no commercial alternative exists."

Academics [http://www.managingip.com/Article/3347447/Managing-Copyright-Archive/UK-copyright-exceptions-in-force-today.html] have also been given a significant boost, with text and data mining restrictions removed on non-commercial research, and archives no longer have to keep only physical copies of copyrighted material. However the ordinary citizen has yet to benefit, as planned exceptions for private copy, parody and quotation have yet to be implemented.

The government has said it remains committed to the principle, and there's a financial incentive: the UK hopes to save £250 million over the next ten years [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-exceptions-to-copyright-reflect-digital-age] from changes to copyright law. At the moment this benefit is largely coming from a reduction in public body archival costs; all that pesky physical data can vanish onto the internet, or at least so goes the theory. Libraries and museums will also be able to save up to £26 million a year in storage costs, the government anticipates.

The government is working towards a world in which a private citizen can "make personal copies to any device that you own, or a personal online storage medium, such as a private cloud," according to the Intellectual Property Office, and if it's not there yet, the IPO hopes it will be a reality soon. When that happens it estimates the tech sector will make a further £31 million a year revenue, as people turn to it for services and products to assist copying.

Always assuming of course that the consumer hasn't already got something along those lines hidden on his or her hard drive. Heaven, and the copyright holders, forbid.

Source: TorrentFreak [http://torrentfreak.com/copying-mp3s-dvds-cds-now-legal-uk-140602/]


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[flarty]

Would this also make it legal to download copies of things you already own from torrents? I suppose the problem would then be that most torrent trackers make you seed while you download, which would certainly still be illegal.

Cant you just set the upload rate to 0kbs?

So how does this work if you get busted? You could just say they backups from things I purchased and lost over time. This law wont make a damn bit of difference as far as i can see. People copy and back up files indiscriminately from what i can see.

 

[mjharper]

While I think the principle of this is a good thing, I don't get the implementation.

As a teacher who often needs to research the sources his students use, I do understand the easing of academic restrictions. But why are the disabled being singled out as well?

Not trolling, genuinely curious.

 

[Karloff]

While I think the principle of this is a good thing, I don't get the implementation.

As a teacher who often needs to research the sources his students use, I do understand the easing of academic restrictions. But why are the disabled being singled out as well?

Not trolling, genuinely curious.

That puzzles me too. I file it under 'governments move in mysterious ways, their wonders to perform.' It probably helps that linking it to the disabled gives it a feel-good vibe; nobody's going to object to that, not even the copyright holders.

Though bags I a front row seat, with popcorn, at the first trial held to decide what counts as "when no commercial alternative exists." The mind boggles.

 

[Scars Unseen]

So in the land of the pirates, the one-eyed man is king?

 

[Rellik San]

Though bags I a front row seat, with popcorn, at the first trial held to decide what counts as "when no commercial alternative exists." The mind boggles.

Of this I'm curious too, does this include products that were never licensed for release in the UK? (read 90% of Anime), does this change if the product is then released in the UK does the back up have to be expunged? What about the RIAA I can't see them resting on their laurels as I make back ups of my Infectious Grooves tapes, because they never bothered to release those albums in the UK.

 

[Da Orky Man]

While I think the principle of this is a good thing, I don't get the implementation.

As a teacher who often needs to research the sources his students use, I do understand the easing of academic restrictions. But why are the disabled being singled out as well?

Not trolling, genuinely curious.

Let's assume that the government is telling the truth when it says that it's aiming for a complete lifting on the restrictions on personal backup of copyright and DRM protected media, which given it's movements in that direction, may well be true.

In that case, then this is quite possibly a way of introducing the concept to Parliament in such a way as to seem as non-threatening as possible, with negligible damage caused if it all went wrong. After seeing that the media industry doesn't implode, MPs will be more willing to support a full removal of restrictions.
Plus, after all, elements of this movement are in the governments'a own interests. The various national museums, such as the British and the Imperial War Museum are all funded/sponsored by a governmental body. If they can reduce costs by introducing laws that allow for backing up and data mining, then it will save the government money.

 

[Adam Locking]

Let's assume that the government is telling the truth when it says that it's aiming for a complete lifting on the restrictions on personal backup of copyright and DRM protected media, which given it's movements in that direction, may well be true.

Unless the law has changed since it was announced a month ago, it's not true, breaking DRM is still against the law. This legislation means dick all in that regard. The only positive to come out of this is parody exemptions, which finally brings us in line with the rest of the developed world several decades too late.

 

[Meximagician]

I'm not much of a software pirate (I try to find demos or open source versions if I can't find or afford the original) but I kinda like the idea of a IP letter of marque.

 

[Strazdas]

well im glad UK has been catching up to the rest of europe. although admittedly few countries actually went backwards on this lately.

Cant you just set the upload rate to 0kbs?

no, you cant. if you set upload to 0 download is also 0. download is never set more than 3 times the speed of upload, because principle of seeding is cardinal in torrents. there are clients like TheftTorrent that allow you to have 0 upload while downloading however these are frowned upon and gets you ipbans quickly.

 

[FalloutJack]

Can I get some clarity on 'when no commercial alternatives exist' please?