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Movies...

Back in the VHS days.... everyone I know used to record movies from tv and kept them on VHS for years to come... watching them every once in a while, borrowing them to friends/family etc. I am sure you all know people who had dozens of VHS tapes. Now in the digital age.... I can record a movie (commercial free from HBO/Starz, etc. if I like) and burn it onto a DVD and keep it around for years to come, just as old style VHS tapes... On the news, I never hear/read anything about doing this, so I am assuming this is either legal, or it is just generally accepted.

What is new nowadays is that I can also just go ahead and download these movies from 'the internet' and save me the trouble of actually recording it from the TV, but the end-result would be the same me owning a copy of a movie on dvd.

But is seems to me that there are huge efforts going on to tell people how 'bad' it is to 'illegally' download movies or to crack down on people who do or on websites/programs that allow people to do this. While no one seems to care if I just record the same movie from the tv and burn a dvd.

Why is this? Any opinions on this?
 
Two things. One is more a legal point, and the other a practical point about why anyone cares.

You are right that recording a movie or whatever off TV is legal. There is a doctrine called fair use that allows copying of copyrighted material for certain limited purposes. Things like parodying the original and using the classroom are included. Also, you can record a broadcast. And you can copy something you already own. (Modern media is copy protected and stuff, but I am pretty sure it is perfectly legal to crack that on a disc you own, in order to make a backup copy, or transfer to a different media you prefer. This is one reason why all the copy-protection is really annoying - keeps you from doing something you have a right to do). You cannot make copies of something you own to sell or even give to someone else (a practice that dates back to tapes, but technically not legal), or make copies for your own use of something someone else owns.

Now, it may not seem that different to download a movie from the internet v. recording from cable TV. Especially not that the quality is not going to be much different. But for the reasons described above, the recording of a broadcast for later viewing is considered fair use. Copying someone else's copy is not. And by downloading, that's exactly what you are doing.

I am not a copyright law expert, so the above is just my understanding. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The big media companies probably would not have things be that way, given a choice, now. But the rule would have come from the time when cassettes were introduced, meaning that a recorded from broadcast version wouldn't have been that great.

There is still a big difference practically speaking, which is the reason that the companies are so militant about patrolling the line. Sure, you can record a movie on HBO commercial free to DVD and have a pretty darn good quality copy. But you are limited to what happens to be broadcast. You could develop a huge collection if you were viligent about recording EVERYTHING that came accross your cable line. But very very few people are that determined. Even with a fair collection of stuff they've recorded to VHS or DVD, for most people, if they want to see a particular movie, they have to rent it, or buy it.

On the other hand, on the internet, basically any movie you want, you can download, when you want it. No need to ever buy, or even rent.

-Mo
 
Also, you can record a broadcast. And you can copy something you already own. (Modern media is copy protected and stuff, but I am pretty sure it is perfectly legal to crack that on a disc you own, in order to make a backup copy, or transfer to a different media you prefer.
-Mo

In the states it's not legal to copy encrypted media ie DVD. Under new laws Digital Millennium something or other made this illegal. I seen to many disclaimers about this trying to get DVDs to work on my computer (linux). Now in here in Canada we still have fair use, but there's pressure to change the laws. I think the UK fair use is still legal too.

____
Sean
 
Modern media is copy protected and stuff, but I am pretty sure it is perfectly legal to crack that on a disc you own, in order to make a backup copy, or transfer to a different media you prefer. This is one reason why all the copy-protection is really annoying - keeps you from doing something you have a right to do

Yeah there's the fair use guideline that makes copying legal for personal use, but the digital millenium what have you makes it illegal to break any encoding that is on the media, regardless of if it's for personal use or not. So technically, encoding a dvd to your computer is illegal if you break the encryption, even if it's just for personal use.

Makes no sense, I know.
 
Yeah there's the fair use guideline that makes copying legal for personal use, but the digital millenium what have you makes it illegal to break any encoding that is on the media, regardless of if it's for personal use or not. So technically, encoding a dvd to your computer is illegal if you break the encryption, even if it's just for personal use.

Yeah, like I said, I'm not expert on this stuff. I did know that once, but have rather forgotten it under a barrage of much less interesting securities law and general annoyances.

I personally find the idea that it is illegal to crack a disc that YOU OWN just obnoxious. One of the ideas that is included in the quite old and established fair use doctrine is that you can do whatever you darn well please with your own property. The effect of the doctrine was that as long as you did not start giving away copies, or selling them, or staging commercial showings, it was your property and who cares. This is consistent with much larger and deeper principles of American law, of course. But this digital millenium stuff runs very counter to that.

-Mo
 
In the states it's not legal to copy encrypted media ie DVD. Under new laws Digital Millennium something or other made this illegal. I seen to many disclaimers about this trying to get DVDs to work on my computer (linux). Now in here in Canada we still have fair use, but there's pressure to change the laws. I think the UK fair use is still legal too.

____
Sean

This is a topic I keep up on regularly.

DMCA's legality in regards to fair use is still being determined. In truth, it does infringe on fiar use rights, which are still granted to us (DMCA never repealed them, but their has been attempts to)

I have some pretty stern views on this, and to put it bluntly...I refuse to recognize any law that infringes on my ability to do what I want with what I have bought, so long as it's kept in my own private use. If they don't like that...stop selling it to the public. I don't see a license agreement, nor a suitable way to return an opened item if I don't agree to the license agreement, so they have no legs to stand on.
 
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