Criminalising the consumer

[HomeSA]

http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/techview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9096421&fsrc=nwl

Any thoughts?

[Suchy]

the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 made it legal for people to record copyrighted radio broadcasts for personal use.

So when I record brodcasts of internet radio stations and then cut up the recording into couple of mp3 for my personal use, thats legal right ?

[PrntRhd]

DRM is a pollution of the engineering standards for clear recording and is a denial of Fair Use by consumers. The fact it was on a DVD vs video tape or CD should make no difference in how those rights are protected.

The beauty of such schemes is that they don’t actually prevent anyone from making copies of original content. Their purpose is simply to collect royalties when a breach of copyright has occurred. By being reactive rather than pre-emptive, normal law-abiding consumers are then left in peace to enjoy their music and video collections in any way they choose. Why couldn’t we have thought of that in the beginning?
BINGO, we have a winner!

The DRM-free MP3s that Apple is serving up on iTunes are selling 4X better than the restricted crud RIAA was pushing onto consumers before EMI Group finally saw some sense.