Stiffer piracy spankings

UK.gov may support heavier penalties for mass copyright infringement. A consultation asked whether the penalties for serious online infringement should be brought in line with those for offline infringement, which carry a potential 10 year sentence. The exercise was notable for generating many robo responses from people who …

[Ketlan]

Quick read

I swear the articles on this site are getting smaller. Is it cos it's Friday?

[Teiwaz]

A torrent of concern

It's not the intent of the law that would generate the concern, it's lazy-ass and vaguely couched wording that will be the result that will do the damage. Either they don't think, or it's intentional scope creep.

[Anonymous Coward]

POETS day?

What kind of article is this?

[sgrier23]

Home Copiers

It has always bee allowed for home users to make a backup copy of any thing they purchase - music, movies. as long as they have the original at home, they can argue that the backup copy is used to keep the original safe.

How then, in the olden days, were people allowed to tape vinyl LP's and cary the recorded tape about in their Walkman.

same principle applies. if they have the original then a backup copy can be produced and that one used to play, etc.

[Teiwaz]

Re: Home Copiers

"in the olden days, were people allowed to tape vinyl LP's and cary the recorded tape about in their Walkman."

- It was permitted, as long as you also owned the original wax cylinder as well as the LP......'olden days', sheesh!...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Home Copiers

@sgrier23 - I don't think that's correct. Not for the UK, at any rate. It's legal in the US under Fair Use; but in the UK backups and format-sifting are a civil offence. Which means that 1) the IP-owner would have to catch you doing it 2) they would have to take you to a small-claims court or somesuch and 3) endure the public shitstorm afterwards.

Technically not legal; but the rewards don't really make it worth pursuing for an IP-owner; especially these days where anyone actually taken to court for something that many, many people do would be straight on social media bitching about it and arranging boycotts and the like. And in a civil case of this type it would be immensely hard to prove enough damages to even pay your lawyer.