Copyright. The Pros and Cons

[Marvo]

Wow Phil, that post covered some distance. I think as the UK law stands even downloading for personal use is forbidden and illegal.

I heard something recently that they're relaxing the law in the UK to allow you to transcode media to allow it to be viewed or played across multiple devices so if you buy an e-book in pdf format it would be legal to convert it to mobi to view on a kindle for example.

This is just a minor redress of the copyright laws that have been perverted so much over time that they no longer serve any useful purpose. Up until now it would have been illegal to use a program such as Calibre to convert your ebook to different file formats to open on your various devices, you'd have to make multiple purchases of the same book which is just a farce.

Similarly if you buy a DVD or BluRay disk of a movie it's illegal to encode it so you can watch it on your ipad. This isn't copyright, you already bought the right to watch the movie, it's not about the artists getting pad it's about distributors and big business bending you over and ripping you a new one. Another example is the region coding built into movie and music discs, since when is that about getting the artists paid? It's not, it's another example of big business perverting the laws to protect and maximise profits.

The 'copyright' laws of today are the result of decades of lobbying and conniving by conglomerates to get laws passed that serve them and their bottom line. If you honestly think copyright laws are about artists getting paid you're sadly mistaken.

 

[Knobhead]

Wow Phil, that post covered some distance. I think as the UK law stands even downloading for personal use is forbidden and illegal.

I heard something recently that they're relaxing the law in the UK to allow you to transcode media to allow it to be viewed or played across multiple devices so if you buy an e-book in pdf format it would be legal to convert it to mobi to view on a kindle for example.

This is just a minor redress of the copyright laws that have been perverted so much over time that they no longer serve any useful purpose. Up until now it would have been illegal to use a program such as Calibre to convert your ebook to different file formats to open on your various devices, you'd have to make multiple purchases of the same book which is just a farce.

Similarly if you buy a DVD or BluRay disk of a movie it's illegal to encode it so you can watch it on your ipad. This isn't copyright, you already bought the right to watch the movie, it's not about the artists getting pad it's about distributors and big business bending you over and ripping you a new one. Another example is the region coding built into movie and music discs, since when is that about getting the artists paid? It's not, it's another example of big business perverting the laws to protect and maximise profits.

The 'copyright' laws of today are the result of decades of lobbying and conniving by conglomerates to get laws passed that serve them and their bottom line. If you honestly think copyright laws are about artists getting paid you're sadly mistaken.

Marvo, you are on thin ice.

You can not advocate the misappropriation of copyright material in the UK. It is the law of this and many other countries.

Your personal views have no place in open forum. As an administrator your views could be construed as forum policy.

 

[shanky887614]

Marvo, you are on thin ice.

You can not advocate the misappropriation of copyright material in the UK. It is the law of this and many other countries.

Your personal views have no place in open forum. As an administrator your views could be construed as forum policy.

true it is grey area.

it is legal to convert video files for personal use and has been for a number of years in the usa and less in the uk.

the problem with drm is it only hinders the honest buyers.


im saying no further on the subject but i will say this.

most drm is badly written and easily bypassed, ever since the first implementation there have been ways to bypass or disable it

 

[Knobhead]

I’m going to say the same to you as I did Marvo. Go away and do some original work, when you find it peddled on the net see how you feel then.
You’ll soon be banging on the solicitors door.

Many years ago I was quoted on the front page of several newspapers: “There are laws in this country, like them or not, we have to abide by them.”

So what makes you above the law?

 

[shanky887614]

I’m going to say the same to you as I did Marvo. Go away and do some original work, when you find it peddled on the net see how you feel then.
You’ll soon be banging on the solicitors door.

Many years ago I was quoted on the front page of several newspapers: “There are laws in this country, like them or not, we have to abide by them.”

So what makes you above the law?

hang on a min i play around with some of these things for my own enjoyment.

i have paid for games in the past and have enjoyed extracting files and putting it through different programs to make nets to build paper models for myself and play the music.

i could figure the music out myself or draw the object's if i took enough time.

i don't pirate anything and i never distribute anything that i extract for my own use.

 

[jaypp]

I’m going to say the same to you as I did Marvo. Go away and do some original work, when you find it peddled on the net see how you feel then.
You’ll soon be banging on the solicitors door.

Many years ago I was quoted on the front page of several newspapers: “There are laws in this country, like them or not, we have to abide by them.”

So what makes you above the law?

It's infuriating enough when you make a simple suggestion on a job and someone takes credit for it so I'd definately not be happy if someone 'stole' my written work!:boxing_smiley:

 

[Knobhead]

Shanky

I’m sorry you’ve lost me, what has that got to do with pirated copyright material?
As far I know that is what we set off talking about.

 

[shanky887614]

Shanky

I’m sorry you’ve lost me, what has that got to do with pirated copyright material?
As far I know that is what we set off talking about.

pirating something is different to removing drm on your things/ paid for software.


pirating is getting it without paying for it from dodgy sites, ususlly you only remove drm because something in your home doesnt support dvla steaming

 

[dingledong]

Re: Has anyone got gn3 , 17th edition in a pdf format?

Which is not the UK, so your opinion and suggestion we should breach copyright is not good IMHO.

If we all take free copies who will pay to get this stuff created in the first place.

If my son was doing an apprenticeship, and was struggling to make ends meet, I would buy him the necessary regs books. That said if he was spending it all down the pub, he'd be on his own.

What if he was just spending just half his money down the pub ??

 

[Marvo]

Marvo, you are on thin ice.

You can not advocate the misappropriation of copyright material in the UK. It is the law of this and many other countries.

Your personal views have no place in open forum. As an administrator your views could be construed as forum policy.

There's a big difference between holding a view that obviously isn't mainstream and being on thin ice. I stated forum policy here, this is a debate in the politics forum. I'm debating laws and suggesting they're made more relevant to a digital age why would my personal views have no place in an open forum? By the dictionary definition of the word 'forum' any views are welcome.

I'm not advocating people break the law, quite the contrary on several occasions, if you feel I have please highlight where and I'll address your concern. I'm advocating they think for themselves. Yeah I know it's dangerous when people start thinking, next thing you know they're seeing through some of the BS they're constantly fed and they start becoming inquisitive, maybe do some research, even make their own informed views and choices...who knows?

......the problem with drm is it only hinders the honest buyers.


im saying no further on the subject but i will say this.

most drm is badly written and easily bypassed

DRM are measures that are necessary to try to prevent something that's inevitable. If I buy a CD and I want to play it on my PC whilst I work or convert it to a format so I can listen to it whilst I'm out on my MP3 player then DRM will prevent this. What DRM does is dictate to someone who's paid for music how they may listen to it. You may think this is fine and fair but I don't.

DRM is and always has been a cat and mouse game and the losers are the people that pay but they still insist on persisting with it.

 

[Guest111]

the copyright laws are a mess.for instance why is it perfectly legal to buy a PVR and record tv programmes to what later,surely that's in breach of copyright.

 

[Marvo]

.....Go away and do some original work, when you find it peddled on the net see how you feel then. You’ll soon be banging on the solicitors door.

I've held patents in the past and have a couple current for products I've developed. The patents allowed me sufficient advantage as the inventor to get the product to market and recover my R&D costs and make profit. That was what the law was designed for. I don't expect my patents to allow me to control or stunt the growth of the entire market for similar products for decades to come.

Many years ago I was quoted on the front page of several newspapers: “There are laws in this country, like them or not, we have to abide by them.” So what makes you above the law?

Yep but abiding by them doesn't mean they shouldn't be debated and changed to keep them relevant. The UK hangs on to it's laws even when they run contrary to modern thinking and society. The only people who are successful in changing them are big business with it's lobbying but they're not changing them for the better necessarily, they're changing them in their own interests. When it comes to being proactive about getting laws that work for everyone, with the exception of the self serving lobbyists, people are sheep until it's too late and once it's too late you've only got to look at PartP, limited scope quals and all the guys forced to work through agencies and umbrella companies to see who suffers.

 

[Guest111]

Not quite sure if this is on the same track,but a couple of years ago I bought something and had problems with it,now the makers said I had to return it to them to be repaired at a ridiculous fee,even though I was more than capable of fixing it myself,a lot of things these days are getting the same way,repairable only by maker,usually at a ridiculous fee.Now if I bought and paid for it it's mine and I should be allowed to repair it,it's my piece of kit and any software needed should be made freely available to people who buy the kit.

 

[shanky887614]

Not quite sure if this is on the same track,but a couple of years ago I bought something and had problems with it,now the makers said I had to return it to them to be repaired at a ridiculous fee,even though I was more than capable of fixing it myself,a lot of things these days are getting the same way,repairable only by maker,usually at a ridiculous fee.Now if I bought and paid for it it's mine and I should be allowed to repair it,it's my piece of kit and any software needed should be made freely available to people who buy the kit.

i prefer to buy things online because of the distance selling regulations etc make it easier to solve if there are problems.

ill call my bank/paypal if they wont refund

 

[Knobhead]

Re: Has anyone got gn3 , 17th edition in a pdf format?

But just in case you're wondering, what gets posted via the PM system is private from prying eyes.

I've relocated the Copyright discussion to here so this thread doesn't get hijacked by politics.

The trouble is Marvo, you’ve sanctioned breaking the law in the first of your posts I’ve quoted. As a member of the IET, I was of a mind to pass this thread on to them.