Under a new set of proposals to change the law on copyrighted music, the British Government is to allow legitimate owners of digital music to make copies for their own use. Whilst this has undoubtedly become commonplace - for example when anyone makes a CD to MP3 conversion in iTunes for listening through their iPod - the procedure is expected to be made legal in the UK very soon.
The recording companies' trade organisation - the British Phonographic Industry (BPI; the UK equivalent of the RIAA) - has accepted the argument from government consultations and consumer groups that the current regulations are confusing and at odds with what people expect when they pay for music, and that as a result the law has come under considerable disrepute. Hence the agreed changes mean that genuine owners of music should not be penalised for moving their purchased songs from one audio format to another. Really this falls into line with what is happening anyway, including the selling of DRM-free music by a number of on-line retailers.
However there is likely to be a compensatory strengthening of the penalties for illegal distribution, and similar restrictions on selling CDs that have been legally copied. How easily this latter scenario is enforceable is a good question, and seems to create another grey area for the law to expend its energies on. One also wonders whether these proposals are a prelude to the relaxing of similar copyright laws on copying video material (since it appears to be just audio that comes under the proposed leglislative changes).
You can read the full story in the Guardian Unlimited...
