Terry Frazier has found some interesting information about the latest US-led push to tighten copyright. It makes for a very interesting read.
These are becoming dissemination technologies for personal audio, video, photos, and music. This is the MPAA’s and RIAA’s worst nightmare—much more damaging than P2P piracy. It undermines their justification for charging you for every single use of a song, picture, film, or other work. INDUCE is broadly written to outlaw all of these technologies and to do so quickly, before these legitimate, consumer-driven apps become widespread. This is important reading for anyone who owns a digital camera or camcorder, a stereo or MP3 player, or even a cell phone. The MPAA and RIAA don’t care what you want, what rights you have, or what legal, legitimate uses you may for your pictures, videos, and CDs. Their existence depends on absolute control of any technology that lets you shift legal content between your own devices, and they are intent on stifling the public’s ability to share, distribute, and control anything—legal or not.
The situation in Australia is different. We don’t even have a fair use policy that applies to homes and so many of the technologies such as iTunes are technically illegal anyway. Australian copyright prevents you from copying a CD to a computer. Even if you own both. Even video from TV and the newer DVD recorders should remain in their boxes.
Generally, you will need permission to tape from TV
There is no exception which allows you to tape from TV for private use—for example, to watch a program at a more convenient time, or to watch a program again, or to give the tape to your friends to watch.
There is a very limited exception which means that you do not infringe copyright in the broadcaster’s copyright by taping for private use. However, there are nearly always other copyrights to consider—including the copyright in the moving images and sounds, the copyright in any script or screenplay, and the copyright in any music.
This means that you will generally need permission to tape from TV.
There are seen to be two primary parties involved. The corporate media giants and the consumer. What about the makers of the hardware. Surely they have a vested interest in keeping such laws as those mentioned by Terry out of the picture.
And they appear to be shooting themselves in the foot as Why DRM is Bad for Society: A Briefing for Microsoft shows. Let the technologies run and create new markets. Don’t strangle what you already have.