UK Becomes Sixth Country to Implement EUCD 479
orbital3 writes "The UK, as of October 31, 2003, became the sixth nation to implement the laws required to comply with the European Union Copyright Directive with its Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 legislation. This is a short little article about it and here is a copy of the law itself."
In short (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:In short (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:In short (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:In short (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps a test case against sony would force some sense to be seen in such matters. After all sony seem to like to take PSX mod chip makers to court for doing exactly what they are.
Re:In short (Score:3, Insightful)
"(4A) It is not fair dealing to observe, study or test the functioning of a computer program in order to determine the ideas and principles which underlie any element of the program (these acts being permitted if done in accordance with section 50BA (observing, studying and testing)).";
Who decides what is observing, studying, and testing? The act of reverse engineering _is_ observing, studying, and testing. Anybody know what section 50BA really means?
Re:In short (Score:5, Informative)
No it does not, not directly at least. There is no provision in the law that prohibits you from making copies for personal use.
However, it does make it illegal to circumvent copy-protection devices... in a few years, when DRM might becomes commonplace, it could mean that your rights to make copies for personal use are de facto taken away from you.
Over here in Holland, fair-use rights have always been upheld as a right. Not because prevention and prosecution of the making of such copies would be impractical, but because lawmakers deem the ability to make such copies for personal use a right. What I would like to see is legislation that would protect and guarantee this right, rather than take it away by outlawing the circumvention of copy protection devices. How about a law that outlaws a copy protection device or DRM, if such a device would infringe on fair-use rights, making it impossible to make copies for home use?
Unfortunately it will never happen. When corresponding with both left-wing and right-wing representatives in the EU government, I get the distinct feeling that no consideration whatsoever is given to the rights of individuals, when copyrights or piracy are discussed. The current politcal wind seems to fully favor the RIAA and its ilk.
More [ukcdr.org] about the EUCD and the UK implementation.
Re:In short (Score:3, Interesting)
There doesn't need to be, at least not here in the UK - we've never had that right, unless it was explicitly granted by the copyright holder. Technically, it's always been illegal here for me to rip my CDs to mp3s/oggs, or to MDs when I had an MD player.
Mod parent (+1, Informative) (Score:3, Informative)
The parent is, sadly, correct. In the UK, copyright law has never allowed for the same "fair use" as the corresponding law in the US. Some exemptions do apply, but copying for personal use is not among them by default, even if it's just transferring data to a different media format, burning a CD with just your favourite tracks (which you legally have on other CDs) on it, or making back-ups.
This is, of course, a rather absurd situation, since everybody does it and even the pro-copyright people (of whom I a
Re:Mod parent (+1, Informative) (Score:3, Funny)
In the end, it's why habeus corpus is so important - so that juries can get stupid laws changed that politicians are too lazy, involved or frightened to change.
Re:Mod parent (+1, Informative) (Score:3, Funny)
Ah, but the best bit is that carrying the weapons required for that practice would now be illegal...
Re:In short (Score:3, Insightful)
This is something a court is going to have to eventually decide. Is the right to make a backup for personal use more important than the manufacturer's right to copy protect their content? If so, will they say manufacturers will be forced to provide two copies of the media for every ite
Re:In short (Score:3, Informative)
From the article:
The article is wrong, then?
Re:In short (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes and no. English law (apparently) prohibits making copies for personal use, but the EUCD does not.
Re:In short (Score:3, Interesting)
The article also mentions that the use of iPods, Nomads, and other MP3 players will become impractical, as it would be illegal to convert your CDs into suitable formats.
As someone about to buy such a device, I'm going to have to ask the manufacturers, and possibly an MP or two for advice, as the last thing we want is a $400 device being confiscated for holding
So I guess... (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, yes, let me guess (Score:2)
Re:So I guess... (Score:3, Interesting)
People may laugh at this. They forget that it's exactly this sort of reasoning (modified to sound more palatable to the masses) that was used to justify the last copyright term extension act.
In other words, don't laugh. It's a lot more likely to happen than you might think.
Re:So I guess... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So I guess... (Score:3, Interesting)
Heh. I prefer to think of them as multi-national coprorate interests, since they're screwing us here in the US as well.
Will be challenged legally. (Score:5, Insightful)
From the article
"Why shouldn't I be allowed to make a copy of a CD I have paid for so I can listen to it on my computer or put it on an MP3 player? This shows that the law can be an ass," said George Gardiner, technology lawyer and partner at law firm Stephenson Harwood.
How exactly? (Score:5, Insightful)
The parent wasn't insightful, it was wishful thinking. Copyright law in the UK has never allowed people the automatic right to make back-ups. Everybody does, and no-one's stupid enough to sue them for it, but technically it's only legal if the licence agreement allows for it.
How exactly were you proposing that this law would be challenged? We have no written Constitution, in the sense that the US does, so the usual mechanism for overturning silly laws across the pond is out. There's nothing inherently wrong with this law in a legal sense: what it says sucks, but it was passed by the usual means. Sure, we can hope that in time copyright law in the UK will be changed to reflect common sense (in particular, explicitly recognising various fair uses in the sense that US copyright law does) but for now, there's simply no basis in law to challenge this.
OTOH, the tinfoil hat brigade who are chanting "super-DMCA" should go and read what it actually says (and doesn't say) before getting all spooky on us.
Re:How exactly? (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know about backups, but I'm pretty sure it does explicitly recognise "fair use".
All the photocopiers in my (UK) university libraries have a poster above them which says "Make sure you stay within the law!" and gives details on how much you can legally photocopy from various different types of source.
In fact, I've heard it mentioned explicitly in the UK media recently, with regards to the "Burrell affai
Re:How exactly? (Score:3, Insightful)
There is a complex, mature, respected legal system that works on a vast body of case law. It is simply not the case that the government can make up stupid laws and them expect the courst to just go ahead and enforce them. Plenty of Home secretaries (including David Blunket, the current one) have attempted to psuh trho
Re:How exactly? (Score:3, Informative)
Does This Mean Anyone Cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Does This Mean Anyone Cares? (Score:2)
-staying out of jail
-not getting fined to a pulp
-not having the businesses that create content go out of business*
we're spoiled brats when we expect those in authority to -give- us something to make up for us not doing some bad. extortion? "i won't tell mom where you went for $5"
dude, no.
*yes, i know, they talk about that all the time and are still in business. that's because they still get some business. jus
Re:Does This Mean Anyone Cares? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Does This Mean Anyone Cares? (Score:5, Interesting)
Ah, but you haven't been reading the Evil Overlord manual.
The purpose of legislation such as this isn't to put everyone in prison, it's to make it possible to put anyone in prison -- whomever the government wishes, in other words. That way governments don't have to worry about pesky things like public dissent: they can just arrest the key players before they have a chance to make a mess of things.
Classic police state stuff.
UN Digital Copyright Standard? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:UN Digital Copyright Standard? (Score:2)
Re:UN Digital Copyright Standard? (Score:2)
There is (Score:4, Informative)
"wider awareness campain" (Score:3, Interesting)
"Once we have digested the implications of the revised copyright legislation and communicated this to our members we will consider the need for a wider awareness campaign..."
Will this "wider awareness campaign" involve sending out subpoenas to ISP's and suing 12 year old children?
Oh great. Now I'm a criminal (Score:5, Interesting)
I have many of my CDs ripped onto my hard drive for playing on my HTPC setup [myhtpc.net]. I own the original CD for every single file, and never have a situation where the same file is used on more than one system simultaneously, and yet I'm all of a sudden a criminal. Thanks guys.
Re:Oh great. Now I'm a criminal (Score:2)
Re:Oh great. Now I'm a criminal (Score:5, Informative)
The making in domestic premises for private and domestic use of a recording of a broadcast solely for the purpose of enabling it to be viewed or listened to at a more convenient time does not infringe any right conferred by Part 2 in relation to a performance or recording included in the broadcast.
[emphasis mine]
As I read it, that section relates specifically and only to time-shifting broadcasts, not to "media-shifting" CDs, etc. Which, frankly, sucks. I run a (private) streaming mp3/ogg server at home, so I can listen to my music at work without lugging CDs around or leaving them in the office, or ripping them all to my work machine's rather small hard drive (hah - which I suppose is illegal anyway...). I guess that's now illegal; thanks guys. And this is meant to make me buy *more* CDs?
Re:Oh great. Now I'm a criminal (Score:3, Informative)
You're half right. It's true that UKers were never allowed to rip CDs, but it was never a crime and certainly not incarcerable. Previously, the copyright holder had to bring a civil case and the penalty would be nothing more than a fine, albeit a large one in all probability.
Excellent (Score:5, Funny)
Once the US and EU jails are filled with teenagers, society can truly enjoy the New Renaissance. I for will be glad to see the earth cleaned of this scourge that is casual media duplication.
All hail Great Enterprise, Who knows no international boundaries. Thou arst truly the Corporate Ruler in this modern age. Cleanse us of our sins, oh Corporate one. Show us how to become better Consumers! Without Thou we are lost; we canst not thinketh by ourselves. Help us think! Neigh, think for us! Please take our money, and tell us what to do. We are forever in Thy humble service.Re:Excellent (Score:3, Funny)
For instance, it costs 25,000 pa to employ a coder in the UK but only 3000 pa to employ his/her counterpart in India. Tech savvy people are quite likely to use peer to peer or copying so by criminalising even reasonable acts, e.g. ripping a CD to play tracks on your MP3 player, you can then fill prisons with tech savvy people and force them to code or remote administer networks without havi
nitpick (Score:2)
Re:nitpick (Score:2)
I expected the UK to pass this... (Score:5, Interesting)
It's also the nation that puts up monitoring cameras in many public areas.
Oh, and it's also the nation that supports the U.S. no matter what, especially when it comes to invading another country in pursuit of "weapons of mass destruction" (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, *cough*oil*cough*).
The U.K. seems about as close to an Orwellian society as any "enlightened" country on the planet.
No, the real question is whether or not most of the other members of the EU will pass the EUCD. I expect they will, because they're all in the pockets of large corporations these days. Because money and control, after all, are the only things that matter these days, and nobody gives a flying fuck about liberty, freedom, rights, or the general well-being of the population anymore.
Cherish what few freedoms you have left. You won't have them for long.
Re:I expected the UK to pass this... (Score:5, Interesting)
The U.K. seems about as close to an Orwellian society as any "enlightened" country on the planet.
That's right, and it's all thanks to our right-wing "left-wing" government. And even if the people protest, it'll do no use - witness the recent war protests, or consider these excerpts from the Home Office report on ID card consultation, courtest of stand.org.uk:
In essence, theyd've carried on commissioning research until it said what they wanted it to say, spinning any existing results in the meantime.
Frankly, nothing they say or do or agree to is going to surprise me, or a lot of other people. But because these activities aren't yet hitting people directly in the pocket, we won't see civil unrest on a scale of, say, the Poll Tax protests - people readily notice a few pounds a week being taken from them; a few freedoms here and there are perhaps harder to detect...
Well, perhaps a more civilised country will invade and liberate us. Don't worry, we're flabby and apathetic - the Brits you know from black and white war films are all long dead.
Re:I expected the UK to pass this... (Score:3, Insightful)
The UK has many 'freedom' problems, from the House of Lords to the ridiculous voting system that gives the government such a huge majority it can shove through whatever legislation it wants. I dont believe that ID cards, despite the paranoia
Re:I expected the UK to pass this... (Score:5, Insightful)
1) being 'I have it, here it is' (somewhat unlikely - you can prove your identity for video rental with something called a video club card after the initial effort, for example, so there's not much incentive to carry around fourty pounds (sixty dollars, ish) worth of ID card just so some prick can hit you over the head and nick it),
2) being an honest 'I left it at home', in which case the police will have to give you a reasonable time period to go home, get it, and present it to them, thus putting you to some inconvenience for your honesty,
or 3) being a dishonest 'I left it at home', in which case the police will give you a similar grace period, and you, being not a stupid illegal immigrant/criminal/whatever, will be unlikely to go back to the police station and admit it.
And I'm totally creeped out by the idea that Blunkett and his Orwellian pals are demanding compulsory biometric registration. Biometrics isn't something to use lightly, even if it is a popular element in buzzword bingo. In summary, it could be stated that whilst, for example, EU-acceptable ID cards would be very handy, and whilst a national ID system would perhaps be a good thing - solving the 'proof of age' [portman-group.org.uk] problem, for example - this ID card system is not really about that sort of solution. Blunkett is probably not really after making European travellers' lives easier, so much as he is after that lovely-sounding Gattaca-style database of All The Biometric Information of Every Citizen And Visitor.
I'm aware that there are arguments for the retention of biometric information. But I've worked in areas where there's an astonishing quantity of crime, and our problem has never been proving the ID of the criminal, so much as the fact that the criminals are either underage or consider themselves so far outside the law that nothing short of a prison sentence can stop them. ID is easy to establish where you have a photo or a fingerprint (this is presumably where biometric info 'helps'), and is hard to establish where you have neither and rely on witness identification or less (biometric info isn't going to help you here...) In short, unless the government were to come up with some very good reasons for force-collecting that information from every citizen, they shouldn't be permitted to go through with it. It could be harmful, it isn't much help, and given things like his fabulous extradition agreement [guardian.co.uk], it is extremely hard to see why anybody would consider Blunkett an even mildly trustworthy individual.
Previously, many people in the UK have had the comforting illusion that the country, unlike certain others, did not display the 'you want human rights? Prove your entitlement first' attitude. Blunkett, (the prick), is proving otherwise. Sensibly, many [bbc.co.uk] people [bbc.co.uk] have the unsurprising opinion that Blunkett can fuck off.
The problems with ID cards (Score:4, Insightful)
OK, here's a summary of the major "anti" arguments.
Basically, it comes down to three things: it won't do its job, it will be abused, and it will cost a fortune that should be spent on more important things.
Re:I expected the UK to pass this... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I expected the UK to pass this... (Score:3, Insightful)
God bless you, you poor misguided fool!
This is the kind of spin being churned out by HM government and you're buying it, big time.
If the government wanted to work on reducing social security costs, the first thing they'd do is link up the NI databases with the benefits databases - believe me, they're not connected AT ALL. If you walk into a benefits agency office, you can claim you're unemployed and you will probably receive payment. They have absolutely no w
Re:They don't get a choice (Score:3, Insightful)
So the UK
Re:I expected the UK to pass this... (Score:3, Interesting)
We've never had them in the UK, but then we have an urbane approach to the law. We consider them mostly optional, which is unfortunate for any government that wants to emulate the American model.
We have this propensity to riot at the drop of a hat, and the rumblings have already started again, simply because of the number of things that have been waved through since 9/11, however, the vast majority are being doped up with worry at
What planet are you on? (Score:3, Interesting)
EUCD made DVD reselling illegal in Denmark (Score:5, Interesting)
FYI, here in Denmark the interpretation of the EUCD has made DVD reselling illegal! That is all DVDs other than region 2.
It pretty much sucks, as you have to privately import, say region 1 and region 4 discs now if you still want to absorb some kind of foreign culture and art.
zRe:EUCD made DVD reselling illegal in Denmark (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess that remains to be seen.
However, bear this in mind. I was told by my once local region 1 shop that even before the EUCD, the studios (or their representatives in Denmark) were already quite trigger happy and tried to have the region 1 DVD reselling stopped - however without success with respects to local lobbying. The EUCD changed that of course, which was lobbying on a higher level and you can count that as a success on their part.
They are now working towards having the region modding of DVD play
Re:EUCD made DVD reselling illegal in Denmark (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, the consumtion of this right can be global or regional (or whatever the law says). The proposal for the new copyright law in Sweden changes the consumtion from golbal (world wide) to regional (within EU). That is, only a copy sold within EU will have the right of the copyright holder consumed. Thus, any copy sold OUSIDE of EU, will still have the copyright holder as the only one with permision to distribute it (which include resell it and so on).
Since it is doubtfull they will ever sell DVDs in Europe with a region coding not being the one for Europe, the end effect is that you can't resell DVDs with other region codings inside EU since the copyright holder will retain that right.
Not sure if that is the case for Denmark mentioned here though.
so.... (Score:3, Funny)
sucks, eh?
Depressed Pride (Score:3, Interesting)
Indivuals [sic] who make a copy of a copyrighted DVD, CD or music file, whether for back-up or for use on another device such as an MP3 player, are committing a crime.
And here we all thought the DMCA was the state of the art in draconian intellectual property legislation. Amazingly, while the US Constitution stands eviscerated, America remains the sweet land of liberty in comparison to the rest of the world. Is it possible to feel patriotic and disenchanted at the very same time?
Re:Depressed Pride (Score:2)
Though the likes of Bush would have you believe not, I belive it is, and that in fact bis the most common form of patriotism alive today. By this, I mean that when one acheives the realization of a country's faults, and loves it still, to the point of criticizing these faults in an effort to improve it, one is expressing one of the deepest forms of patriotism. Deeper still is the ability to look abroad and say, "we must avoid becoming
Re:Depressed Pride (Score:3, Insightful)
Riiight. I know things aren't perfect in the UK but at least we haven't set up anything like what you have at Guantanamo Bay, where the usual notions of justice don't even apply:Confess or die, US tells jailed Britons [guardian.co.uk]
Re:Depressed Pride (Score:2)
> eviscerated, America remains the sweet land of
> liberty in comparison to the rest of the world
Yep, provided your "the rest of the world" comprises a maximum of 6 European countries...
You might want to try heading *west* from California, and see what you find there. I promise you won't fall off the edge of the world
I've read the law. (Score:5, Interesting)
Not that I care; I'm not even British.
Re:I've read the law. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I've read the law. (Score:3, Informative)
" 28A Making of temporary copies Copyright in a literary work, other than a computer program or a database, or in a dramatic, musical or artistic work, the typographical arrangement of a published edition, a sound recording or a film, is not infringed by the making of a temporary copy which is transient or incidental, which is an integral and essential part of a technological pro
That's the Router/Cache clause. (Score:3, Informative)
That's the clause that allows a device to operate as designed to play the music. To operate, the signal is buffered between the original and the speakers, but buffering is "making a copy." This clause allows that.
Backups are neither integral nor essential in the data path; they may be obvious and appropriate, but that's not what the clause describes.
So now what (Score:4, Funny)
I have this mental image of Alan Cox a man on the run, moving from country to country, each time leaving just minutes before a law goes into effect making the distribution of software that facilitates the breaking of copy protection illegal, always staying just one step ahead of the DMCA as one by one, each country implements the DMCA or something like it..
Until finally there is no where left, and finally, Alan Cox winds up in the most fitting place possible to spend the rest of his life working on the Linux kernel in hermitage: with the Penguins. In Antartica. Outside the dominion of any country. HA!
Hmm, there's a thought. If in order to escape draconian DMCA-like laws, you get on a big boat and go out in international waters to perform copyright-dangerous actions, then does that make it Piracy on the High Seas?
Okay I think I've been awake a bit too long.
Re:So now what (Score:3, Interesting)
Breakin' the Law, Breakin' the Law (Score:2)
Anyway, once old Blunkett gets his police state, and one surveilance is stepped up to the next level, we'll all be for it. They'd better start building more prisons
Re:Breakin' the Law, Breakin' the Law (Score:3, Informative)
This [theregister.co.uk] article sums up the current situation:
"A European Commission official told the paper that EU governments are bound by a timetable set out by the US government after September 11.
Under the US Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, countries whose citizens enjoy visa-free travel to the United States "must issue passports with biometric identifie
In other news... (Score:3, Funny)
Further depressing developments for those of us in the UK: the 'snooper's charter' [stand.org.uk] has now passed through the Lords. Ready your proxies and encryption plug-ins - but remember they might require you to hand over the key at some point.
Hey, anyone want to set up s political party? (Score:3, Insightful)
We need a party that focusses on rights for consumers. There are a million irritating little things that work against free competition or are not affected by it. The fact that I have no choice for a cable service, Mobile phone companies charging a fortune to other networks for connection charges and the EUCD. Offer some laws for the individuals who don't want to be tied into a 12 month contract for any and every service, and you get my vote.
Re:The Liberal party (Score:3, Insightful)
just a thought (Score:3, Interesting)
maybe someone can implement this idea!?! or maybe im just smoking too much crack rofl
Re:just a thought (Score:3, Insightful)
To take a great quote... (Score:3, Interesting)
The UK has some of the most draconian laws in the 'free' world, but in the case of the EUCD most people will ignore it. Except in high profile cases no one will ever go to court for copying a cd and giving it to a friend. Its just the high profile cases that bother me, thing like the skylov case etc.
Aah well guess we should all just persue none violent resisance, now wheres that dvdlib code.....
Re:To take a great quote... (Score:3, Insightful)
The basic premise of New Labour was that it was better to have the Labour party in power implementing Tory policies than the Tory party.
Unfortunately, whereas the Tory party was constrained somewhat by the lack of good-will they had, their general perception of being authoritarian, "
So what? (Score:2)
2) The BPI (UK equivalent of the RIAA) takes a much less aggressive stance on piracy, and certainly isn't trawling Kazaa looking for people to sue.
Without a plaintiff, there can be no (civil) lawsuit!
Its not all bad news (Score:5, Informative)
1. They've allowed temporary copies (Section 8) - so "transients" created say while listening to the music aren't infringing :-)
2. They've allowed "timeshifting" for domestic premises. Interestingly this opens a whole can of worms for them given the phrasing. A copy can be made for the purposes of timeshifting as long as it does not become an infringeing copy - i.e. one that is sold or let for hire. This would seem to allow at least the creation of "backup" copies for personal use.
3. Section 15 - Observing Studying and Testing of Computer Programs. They've allowed this - as long as you own a copy - and even better this Copyright Act overrules any restrictive license imposed by the copyright holder. (2) Where an act is permitted under this section, it is irrelevant whether or not there exists any term or condition in an agreement which purports to prohibit or restrict the act (such terms being, by virtue of section 296A, void).".
Of course the really stupid part of this is that any infringement is a criminal offense (why?) and you can potentially end up spending longer in jail than a burglar or rapist.
It is not illegal to make personal backups (Score:3, Interesting)
Digital media laws (Score:3, Interesting)
To all media distribution companies, big and small: You decided to go digital. Deal with it.
It is not your right to bend legislation at any level to secure your profit margin because that's not free trade. Go ahead and use any copy protection schemes you wish. But don't you even dare try to legally sanction somebody because they've figured out how to get around it: they've just acted more intelligently and more efficiently.
If you truly believed in free trade and the spirit of competition, you'd try to maximize quality while minimizing overhead. What causes so much overhead? Executive salaries and expense accounts, as well as advertising and payola. You've over-saturated your markets with expensive and inferior product, and people have gotten wise to you. The only companies who have any right to complain are the small independents, because the playing field isn't level to begin with.
This was the case with video games piracy and the resultant bankruptcies of production houses during the 1980s and 1990s. If only their distribution companies would have given more back to the people who originated these products instead of fattening their wallets, we might still have diversity in our software.
Creative people have a right to their intellectual property. Why not show them some respect by divvying up the rewards for their efforts more fairly?
MP3 players become worthless? (Score:2, Interesting)
Does that make iTunes ripping feature illegal?
I wonder what Apple will make of this...
Re:MP3 players become worthless? (Score:3, Insightful)
Are you suggesting I can't copyright my music? Or are you saying that the copyright I put on my music is somehow a different kind of copyright than the one some media corporation puts on its music?
One law for the king, one law for the peasant.
Why do we keep pretending... (Score:4, Informative)
But enough rhetoric... After actually reading the text of the law, I can honestly say it was not written to be clearly understood by the common man. If men cannot understand the laws set before them, how can they be expected to follow said laws?
Wow... I'm glad we got that cleared up. I always enjoy it when someone can intervene and change the rules whenever they see fit. It makes life so much more predictable. Corperate lawyers love this stuff, because it's easy to twist and turn into a favorable position for any barratry they wish to inflict.
I live in the US, so this law does not directly affect me, but it's still a global chilling effect on all the common people who are just trying to live comfortable lives without being nickle-and-dimed to death by corperations who feel they should be entitled to every portion of our lives.
Where does this madness stop?
Re:Why do we keep pretending... (Score:3, Interesting)
A) Angry citizenry overthrow government, replace it with a new one;
B) New government wary of being lynched, treads carefully.
C) Time passes. Citizenry becomes fat and deliberately stupid, government starts amassing power and revoking rights.
D) More time passes. More people go to jail. More people start getting pissed
Re:Why do we keep pretending... (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree with your 'A' through 'G' analysis.I'm amazed that we're not on the verge of 'F'. Even more amazing is the fact that we're able to hold such a conversation without facing incarceration based on the laws like the on
Re:Why do we keep pretending... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'll reserve judgement on that until *after* President Bush has finished his imminent visit to the UK. From some of the discussions I've seen on various boards I have a feeling that things could get really ugly at the demonstations that are being planned. There are a lot of Brits who are extremely pissed at Bush and Blair over the WMD thing, even amongst those who supported the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Add in a few militant types to stir things up and
Re:Why do we keep pretending... (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe not *all* bad (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Maybe not *all* bad (Score:3, Informative)
This section actually comes from much earlier EU software copyright directive, which was not changed by EUCD. The tricky part here is that sw-copyright directive applies to software only as copyrighted works, not as technical protection measures. So even if you don't break copyright by reverge engineering, you might do it by circumventing the technical protection measure.
Meet your MP (Score:5, Interesting)
A few days later I received a letter from him saying that he was asking questions of the Government's Department of Trade and Industry, and would get back to me with their responses.
Have others here tried this course of action? / Is there a coordinated effort out there?
What can be done after this?
- Brian
This will probably be scrapped... (Score:3, Interesting)
Several years ago the Home Office introduced a law banning VCR owners from keeping off-air recordings for more than 30 days.
The police declared it unenforceable and the govt. had to back down.
Now I don't know about you but I think the police have got more important things to do than checking to see if Kylie's latest warblings are on little Johnny Smith's MP3 player.
Implementing the same law in different times... (Score:3, Interesting)
Benefits for open source as well (Score:3, Interesting)
Preventing alteration of rights management information and anti-circumvention also works to protect a ripp off of GNU / copyleft / open source software licenses.
These mechanisms are for the benefit of all copyright owners, irrespective of what political stance they take. Effectively they just strengthen the use of rights management information, and are agnostic about the specific favour of that rights management information.
Software license agreements? (Score:3, Interesting)
What you have to remember (Score:5, Interesting)
If the police don't actually want you for something, you're fine. What this law - or any new law passed since the infamous Criminal Justice Bill of '94 - actually means is that if they do want you for something, they will have an easier time pinning something on you. For instance, it's a common trick for the police to pick you up on a charge unrelated to your normal activities in order to be able to search your home without a warrant. This is usually a little easier than getting an actual warrant, but any evidence it turns up will be admissible in a court of law. Conversely, if a sufficiently high-ranking officer requests that the ordinary plods turn a blind eye to a particular activity, and they do, then the only thing the government could do would be to place the area under martial law - which would be political suicide and to the best of my knowledge has never happened outside N.I.
It's technically already against the law in the UK to make a copy of a CD or LP you own onto cassette in order to listen to it in your car. But I'll dare bet you what you like if you went through a copper's car, or even a government minister's car, you'd find something taped at home; and to the best of my knowledge nobody has ever been sent down for that. Nor are they likely ever to start.
Those at the top have lost the plot and the rest of us - who do all the real donkey work - just have to put on a bit of a show for them. It's a grossly inefficient system, and it carries with it the possibility of misuse; but as long as it works, it gets left as it is because any attempt to change it would probably make things worse.
Re:What you have to remember (Score:3, Interesting)
There should never be a situation where foolish laws are passed because "only the criminals will be punished." Well, think about this: one day what is considered a criminal may change. Look at the hackers who find bugs in systems and report them to companies only to find themselves in trouble with the law. Notice how I used hackers, remember when that ha
Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
If they simply stopped buying instead of illegally copying we wouldn't have this mess.
So the illegal file sharing of music has countered the market correction expected by the music industries reported losses? How does that work? A few high profile suits against college kids doesn't even begin to recoup for the losses they are claiming.
Re:Translation (Score:3, Insightful)
that's not a translation or an argument, it's just being a retard.
Re:Translation (Score:5, Interesting)
And the apologia for corporate usurpation of individual rights continues. "Hey, if everyone wasn't a criminal none of these laws would be passed" has got to be the one of the most naive arguments ever made.
Fact is, if everyone is breaking a law then something is wrong with the law. The idea that people obey laws only out of fear of punishment is the argument of the dictator and his adoring fans, who use this as an excuse to drop-kick anyone who happens to disagree with them or refuse to play ball. It should be rather clear by now that the 20th century business model employed by the rabid and frantic RIAA/MPAA doesn't cut it in the 21st century, but rather than try to develop a new business model they buy off politicians to pass laws in an effort to shore up their eroding economic monoliths.
And why not? There are plenty of Joe Idiots sitting about just waiting to kiss ass and jump on the bandwagon, supporting any legal inanity proposed by these modern-day rail barons just so, for a few brief seconds, they can feel morally superior to their neighbors.
My only question is: where the hell were all you losers when the buggy whip industry was demanding that the automobile be banned? If you'd gotten off your lazy asses then we could've saved those poor oppressed corporations and done away with the evil automobile forever!
Max
Re:duh (Score:2)
Re:Well (Score:3, Interesting)
I know you are all looking forward to getting the the Euro as a currency as well."
It's not so important to those of use working in IT, but our failure to join the Euro is hurting a lot of people who work in or are connected to the manufacturing sector (see here [personneltoday.com]).
People bash the EU all the time, but it does us a lot of good - we weren't even guaranteed certa
Denmark, Germany, Italy, Greece, Austria (Score:5, Informative)