RE: FN-FORUM Copying music off the internet

date posted 30th June 2003 19:26

Paul J White:
> As it happens I have downloaded some MP3s from Kazaa, of music I bought on
> an album many years ago (*)
> ...
> * Is that legal, or do I need to pay again for digital rights, as
> the record was analogue? In which case is it legit for me to convert my
old
> vinyl into digital format? I don't know...

Disclaimer: Read this all a long time ago; bit rusty; may be wildly wrong;
check ukcdr for more/correct info.

IIRC, format-shifting is illegal; furthermore, I think it's *never* been
legal.
I think that there's no personal 'fair use' right *whatsoever* in UK law -
if you buy the record and copy it to tape, you've broken the law. In
practice of course, so far the authorities have turned a blind eye to this,
mostly due to logistics - I'm very unlikely to personally subvert the
copyright system (in the distribution-of-musical-works sense) by copying my
record to many tapes and distributing them to people. The cost to me, both
in terms of media and distribution would be too high.
http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/std/faq/copyright/ex_private_use.htm
is a reasonable summary of your (very limited) rights.

Incidentally, I read somewhere that you can legally completely duplicate a
new car and make one exactly like it - except for the CD in the CD player.

> > > "figures from internet measurement firm Neilsen/NetRatings found that
free
> > > download service Kazaa was still the most popular music site in the
UK"
> > >
> > Well, that tells me nothing...
> >
> What, as in you already knew that, or can't infer anything else from the
> fact? Such a throwaway line doesn't move the discussion on.

Sorry, it was s'posed to be slightly facetious.
All you can truly infer from that is exactly what it says - if a massive
outbreak of civil obedience takes place and all but one person stop using
P2P, that statement could still be true.

> Whatever, it's a big issue and it's not going away, that's just my
> experience and reflections upon it...

You're damn straight there. If the music industry gets its way, the money
you pay for your CDs will buy you the *physical* *media*, and a *limited*
licence to listen to the music on it (by using their player software,
maybe), revocable at any time. This all ties tidily in with the concepts of
'trusted computing' (hah!) and to a limited extent, software patents.
Boycott corrupt CDs, write to your M(E)P. Don't stand for this crap.

http://ukcdr.org/ to know more.

- Nick Grimshaw
{ neminem saltare sobrius, nisi forte insanit. }