[PatK]

Thought the community here would appreciate this as big enough news to warrant a message. A law has come into effect that permits UK citizens to make copies of CDs, MP3s, DVDs, Blu-rays and e-books. Consumers are allowed to keep the duplicates on local storage or in the cloud. Not sure where that leaves DRM locks?

full details in this BBC article

Now if we could get the rest of the world on side!

[zag]

Great to see we don't get any physical media taxes either like some other countries.

Only 12 years late though

[mrhyde1969]

Thought the community here would appreciate this as big enough news to warrant a message. A law has come into effect that permits UK citizens to make copies of CDs, MP3s, DVDs, Blu-rays and e-books. Consumers are allowed to keep the duplicates on local storage or in the cloud. Not sure where that leaves DRM locks?

full details in this BBC article

Now if we could get the rest of the world on side!

Cool does that mean I can now use some software like a media player type of thing that let's me browse my entire movie and music collection and then play such media through something like a home theatre pc at the touch of a button? This sounds like a great thing, think I need to start backing up my cd and dvd and blu's. No wait a minute I already did that years ago
On a serious note, it's about bloody time

[Prof Yaffle]

I thought it interesting that this also legalises 'timeshifting' by recording a broadcast programme for later viewing. My parents started doing that in about 1976 on a Sony Betamax that took up half the lounge, so that's a nearly 40-year-old crime against humanity for which they're now forgiven. They'll be pleased.

IIRC, the content providers in the US needed a test case to rule that VCR timeshifting like that was legal 'fair use' as well, so it's a global battle between providers and consumers.

Apparently, DRM still remains valid in the UK - my right to copy doesn't trump your right to protect - although it raises an interesting question about DRM-defeating tools. I can't see how a tool to carry out a legal activity can in itself be illegal, although I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time that laws seem to contradict themselves.

[natethomas]

Apparently, DRM still remains valid in the UK - my right to copy doesn't trump your right to protect - although it raises an interesting question about DRM-defeating tools. I can't see how a tool to carry out a legal activity can in itself be illegal, although I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time that laws seem to contradict themselves.

The UK is notoriously bad about consumer media rights. They actually still don't recognize the concept of fair use, which has been an American institution for a very long time. That makes it even more frustrating that they've leapfrogged the U.S. by making it legal to make a copy of DRMed content, which is where the U.S. roadblock still is.

[Prof Yaffle]

Don't confuse law with practice - 'parody' fair use (Weird Al style) is only technically legal as of this week, yet has been a mainstay of comedy music for decades (e.g. the Barron Knights for any Brits of a certain vintage). Likewise format shifting, multiple copies for car/home, and so on - just 'cos it wasn't legal doesn't mean that anyone has ever been prosecuted for it. We've long had practical fair use: they've just finally codified what is commonplace.

The great advantage of a common-law system: if a law doesn't make sense, it gets ignored and eventually retired, as no jury would support it

[rocker1920]

Whoa, finally that happened. It's a consumer's right to copy WHEN there is no warranty(like here in Brazil) where record/movie/game companies don't replace discs.

If a company doesn't replace your disc, then you are on your right to break protection and copy the disc, thus, restoring it(that has always been true to me).