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Legal Copies

Entry 417, on 2006-10-30 at 16:21:55 (Rating 3, News)

I read an article on the BBC news site yesterday which described how the Institute for Public Policy Research (in Britain) wants consumers' rights to include the ability to copy CDs onto MP3 players. They also oppose the music industry's campaign to have the copyright term extended from 50 to 95 years.

The British laws, like most laws there and elsewhere, are out of date in many ways because technology will always be ahead of the law. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be some attempt to make the law as relevant as possible, even if the technology will have already changed again by the time the new laws are ready.

When we buy a CD, DVD or other media we are mainly paying for the content, not the physical media it is stored on. So we should have the right to move that content, and copy it for reasonable purposes, such as back-up.

The music industry has one, and only one, real aim. That is to maximise its profits. To do this they must minimise payments to artists and maximise income from sales. Neither of these are in the best interest of the public so its important that the government controls their power with reasonable laws.

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