CD and DVD ripping for personal use to be legalized in the UK

[Himanshu Arora]

Making backups of movies and music you own in physical formats is a common practice. But did you know that ripping legally purchased discs is illegal in the UK? If not, then you aren't alone -- according to a government sponsored survey, 85% of consumers in the UK are unaware of this too.

Now, after inspecting of copyright legislation and public consultation, the UK government has decided to change current laws in favor of consumers by legalizing CD and DVD ripping for personal use, according to TorrentFreak.

The new law will also allow people to legally store copies of their music and movies in the cloud. However, sharing them with others will remain illegal. Similarly, people will be allowed to sell movies, music, and other media they own, but they will have to destroy all backup copies. The law is expected to come in effect in June, and the UK Intellectual Property Office has also published a brochure covering the changes.

Besides making the current copyright law more reasonable, the upcoming amendments will also will also broaden people’s fair use rights. For example, you will no longer require permission to quote people's copyrighted work, as long as it’s fair dealing and the source is recognized.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/56175-cd-and-dvd-ripping-for-personal-use-to-be-legalized-in-the-uk.html

 

[TomSEA]

About time. Now do that in the U.S.

 

[oldikes]

Is allowing other people to view this content, rather from a personal device you own, or on the cloud on a device you own, legal? this has always been a confusing point to me as it seems it would be illegal but not enforceable at the slightest.

 

[hahahanoobs]

I remember when this was in the news years ago. Anyone waiting for it to be official probably gave up waiting, or they are doing it anyway. I mean, who do you know what would even go through the trouble of ratting you out for backups of content you already paid for/own?

Since then, we've been introduced to MP3 players, and I don't think anyone is worried their iPod is going to get searched or hacked by someone looking for illegally obtained music just to turn you in.

 

[captaincranky]

About time. Now do that in the U.S.

If it's all the same to the rest of you, I'm not planning on holding my breath until the US comes around to this level of sensibility in law making

I almost believe before this ever happened in the US, they'd move Congress to Hollywood, and elect the CEO of the RIAA to the US presidency. That way he would have the power of veto, in the highly unlikely event this type of legislation ever crossed his desk.

 

[captaincranky]

Taking backups is a very common practice, and we all do that, especially when it comes to backing up our favorite movies, music, and more. But, did you know that ripping of CDs and DVDs is currently illegal in the......

I think this is a bit of an oversimplified take on US law.

I have no legal attribution to support this, but "our folk wisdom", has always suggested a person was entitled to make a backup copy of any disc which they owned. The "catch 22" manifests itself in the fact that it is illegal, to circumvent any standing copy prevention strategy on said disc.

And with that being said, even Adobe's program discs can be ripped to ISO, pursuant to making that backup copy. In the case of "Photoshop", one single disc could be worth up to $600.00!

And yes, even Windows DVDs can easily be ripped to an ISO file for backup purposes.

It's the RIAA which lobbies for bizarre self serving, outright thieving from customers distribution strategies. For example the RIAA believes as customer should have to pay again every time you change format. So you bought the CD, so what? You should be obliged to buy an Mp3 if you want one, of the same material!

While this is an old link /article, I believe it reinforces what I've just said above: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/01/riaa-believes-m/#previouspost

Some of us old timers still have "carousel", CD and or DVD standalone players. In the case of the DVD spinners, I believe one of them had a capacity of 400 discs. This a great because it's illegal to copy, copy protected DVDs. So, even at only 10 bucks a pop for a DVD, you could still have, at least theoretically, 4000 dollars worth of movies sitting in the unit..

So, somebody breaks into your home and steals the player, and they get a $4000.00 "bonus", all your original discs.

 

[misor]

I did not know that cd/dvd ripping is illegal in the u.k. before...
if that's the case, are commercial rippers (nero multimedia suite, etc) and freeware rippers (handbrake, etc) illegal to buy/download/use ?

 

[Darth Shiv]

Technically illegal but they would have been mad to chase after people with those laws. Not much sympathy to gain from suing people who actually purchased your content and are using it for personal use.

 

[Guest]

I have not put a CD in my PC for sometime, but I remember when I did MS Media Player, automatically starting to rip my music to my hard drive.

So this means you can't buy a cd and put it to your mp3 players, like they are designed for?
When people first had records and CD's we copied them to tapes for music in the car or Walkmans.
And companies like Sony, made the Walkmans. Why would anyone buy an album on CD and Casette ?
Why would Sony and such companies, give you the Hi Fi equipment that allows you to record to Casette if that was not the idea ? Why would shops sell you bundles of blank casettes if they are meant to never see an album recorded to them?
Why when p2p networks came out did Sony make money jumping on the bandwagon by releasing DivX players ? Which we all know were not made for those Digital Camcorder home movies that no one at the time was making anyway. Why if music is not mainstream in Online stores would companies release mp3 players if it was not to back up your CD's to, which of course we know they saw a market in online pirates, at least until the music was out there available online legally...

Why is it the law, has a lack of common sense, when it comes to all this stuff. When it comes down to it, we buy something but never own it. We are not allowed to do with it as we please ( although we do, and just continually break laws ). Why does the law defend the rights of money grabbing companies, who are allowed to make hardware, that facilitates the need for piracy or sharing, and then simply turn around and say, oh yeah, but you cant actually use your equipment for the things it was designed for ...

 

[captaincranky]

I did not know that cd/dvd ripping is illegal in the u.k. before...
if that's the case, are commercial rippers (nero multimedia suite, etc) and freeware rippers (handbrake, etc) illegal to buy/download/use ?

Please check out my rant in post #6.

Yes, you can copy with Nero but, the software has no provision to remove any DRM. In fact, (keep in mind the last version I have of Nero is 6.1), it rather petulantly points that out, if you ask it to rip a DVD with copy protection!

But yes, many of the freeware rippers out there are capable of doing bad, bad, illegal, bad things.

Also, follow the link in the post.

Do you know who "LightningUK" is? (Since you're from there, I just thought I'd ask).

 

[TS-56336]

Way to go, UK. I already ripped my own DVD's for personal use. I don't see what the big deal is if you keep the files to yourself.

 

[Duskywolf50]

I have four DVD discs which are mint with minimal scratch cannot play anymore so I think backup is good idea as personal reason as respect to use it.