Rip a CD OK, rip a DVD you’re a criminal
A 2006 amendment to the Australian copyright act made provision for certain “private use” copying of copyright material. The private use provisions make sensible exceptions dealing with “time-shifting”, “format-shifting” and “space-shifting” as follows:
- time-shift from radio and TV (that is, record something to listen to or view at a later time);
- format-shift books, newspapers, periodical publications and photos you own (that is, make one copy in a different format, such as making a digital copy of a paperback you own); and
- space-shift sound recordings (that is, copy sound recordings into any format – including MP3 – so you can listen to the recording in different places – for example, copying a CD so you can have a copy to listen to in your car and another to listen to on your computer at home. [source]
It is now legal therefore to do what people have been doing since the invention of the VCR, record television programs and watch them at a later, more convenient time. Ripping music to MP3 and other formats for use on iPods and other devices now also has the blessing of the powers that be. There is one important caveat here though, it is illegal to breach any form of copy protection placed on a CD. So if the use of such methods becomes widespread on music CD’s it will also be illegal to rip music. Interesting, the record companies can put in place a barrier that stops people doing something that is completely legal.
So what about DVD movies? No such luck here I’m afraid. There is no provision in the fair use provisions for the format shifting of DVD’s. Therefore, if I have a video enabled portable device, I can quite legally copy my music to it but not my DVD videos. Ridiculously, it is quite ok for me to copy a VHS tape onto DVD (subject to the presence of protection schemes).
It seems that under the private use exceptions I can pretty much copy anything that I own, except for DVD’s. I can even scan a whole book into electronic form if I have the time.
The movie studios obviously have much more political muscle than any other stake holder in the area of copyright.
“You can’t coach that”
