Jan

3

RIAA News Now Mainstream

January 3, 2008 |

So, it seems that the “real” media has actually covered the latest lawsuit by the RIAA that I already discussed after coverage from the Washington Post.  A lot of coverage is saying “no, no, no, the RIAA did NOT say ripping CDs is illegal”.  However, what they are missing is that it is in fact the RIAAs stance that ripping CDs IS illegal.  You want to parse words?  Let’s parse words.  From the RIAAs website:

Copying CDs

  • It’s okay to copy music onto an analog cassette, but not for commercial purposes.
  • It’s also okay to copy music onto special Audio CD-R’s, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because royalties have been paid on them) – but, again, not for commercial purposes.
  • Beyond that, there’s no legal “right” to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto a CD-R. However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, won’t usually raise concerns so long as:
    • The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own
    • The copy is just for your personal use. It’s not a personal use – in fact, it’s illegal – to give away the copy or lend it to others for copying.
  • The owners of copyrighted music have the right to use protection technology to allow or prevent copying.
  • Remember, it’s never okay to sell or make commercial use of a copy that you make.

THAT is what the RIAA says about copying to your computer.  Notice the bold and especially underlined parts.  They don’t say it’s legal.  They say “it won’t raise concerns”.  In other words they are reserving the right to say it’s illegal should they so chose in the future.  Another way of putting it is to say “We promise not to try and sue you or this as long as you follow our little rules we have set up. 

I want to emphasis this the RIAA itself does not say that copying a CD for personal use is legal!!!!!!!!  What hey say is that it usually won’t raise concerns.  That means there are circumstances in which you follow their little guidelines and it can raise concerns.  I personally would like to know what my liability is.  Right now I don’t.  I know that I will “usually” be ok as long as I follow their guidelines.  I have no idea when I wont be ok even if I do follow their guidelines.

In other words they hold the keys to the kingdom.  The U.S. government has relequished control over copyright enforcement to the RIAA.  Don’t get me wrong; they should be able to do some enforcement of their copyright.  But should they be the ones to decide what is fair use and legal and what is not?  From all appearances and practical purposes, right now they are. 

 


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