Sony reckons everyone's a pirate
Back-ups are stealing
SONY has new definition of what it considers software piracy which will criminalise most of the world.
In testimony in the flagship Capitol Records, et al versus Jammie Thomas Jennifer Pariser, case, the head of litigation for Sony BMG told the world that it was piracy for someone to back-up a CD they have bought or upload it onto their MP3 player.
If this were true, then more people would be pirates than there would be legitimate users.
She said that when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, Sony can say he stole a song." Making "a copy" of a purchased song is just "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'.
This suggests that punters have no 'fair use' rights to make backups of the music that they have purchased.
In Blighty she is 'technically' right, although no one is going to be successful in getting a prosecution here because the law is being reviewed because it is so out of date. Currently government thinking is that people should be allowed to rip CDs for their own use.
However in the US life is not so clear. Last year the RIAA told the Supreme Court that in its view it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your MP3 player.
However since February the RIAA has had a bit of a think about tis and seems to be hoping that it can tweak the DMCA to forbid it. Its official line is that the only reason you are allowed to make back-ups is because it suffers to let you to do so and it could change its mind at any moment
Either way, there is a lot riding on Capitol Records, et al versus Jammie Thomas Jennifer Pariser.
More here. µ
Comments
Not quite right
This is not an universal law. In Sweden for instance, you are permitted to perform backups without it being considered theft. Furthermore, you are also allowed to share a purchased CD (for instance), with your nearest family, again w/o it being classified as illegal.Ridiculous...
Surely, then, Sony are aiding and abetting these 'criminal' actions by packaging their Sony Ericsson phones with the 'Disc2Phone' software, which helps you copy CDs to your phone in MP3 format?!Not quite right #2
Same in Poland. You're free to back it up (which means you could successfully sue companies for using cd-protections) and are free to share your cd with family [b] and close friends[/b]."Not Quite Right"...Er?
The article specifically drew comparisons between the US and other countries (the UK in the article). It in no way implied that the law was the same around the world. Wouldn't it be a big coincidence if it was?Bad for Business!
Under this principle, listening to any music is in itself illegal, because doing so, I'm making a analog copy (though inaccurate) in my mind. Since this is unavoidable, I no longer can purchase any music as it would be illegal to listen it and Sony loses business.Ridiculous... #2
Sony's own Sonic Stage software will also rip CDs to ATRAC, save them on your HD, load them to your MD or (Sony) MP3 player. What are they thinking?The time has come
The consumer can live without buying new music. Sony et al can not live without the consumer buying new music.I suggest the consumer has a couple of months off.
The other thing is where is all this "music" ? To me it's mostly crap.
Ban All Reproduction
So singing in the shower is also banned as it is also a form of reproduction; however bad the rendition.How greedy can these fools get; they need to sack their company lawyers who dream up these cases to keep themselves employed.
Look Carefully...
Some of these usage agreements on the CD cases actually forbid you from lending or playing publicly. Now the public playing is probably meant for those that may use them for radio or some other mass distribution, but without definition it could mean that you cannot play the music in the presence of anyone but yourself! The restrictions are not spelled out well enough for people to make an well informed decision on what is technically illegal or not. People tend to ignore what they find unreasonable or difficult to understand. I agree that these companies need us more than we need them but there is no way that people will organize themselves to the point of boycotting music purchases for one or several months. Personally, I avoid major labels most of the time and use eMusic for much of my new music needs. At least the major labels are not sharing in my dollars since they refuse to allow their music to be downloaded in DRM free MP3 files.Remember?
Iv'e got some 20 year old LPs which have a caption stating "Home taping is killing music-and its illegal." Yeah, right! Has it died? I don't think so!Sony vs. Microsoft
If Sony tries to enforce this then they'll have to take on Microsoft because windows media player has a ripper built into it. Besides, the mp3 industry depends largely on people being able to rip CDs (that they hopefuly own)Sony stepping on self....
A year or so ago when the Sony-BMG root kit appeared, I looked around the house to see what Sony products that I owned. There were several, and that number of Sony branded products will not increase. Sorry for Sony-BMG stepping on their copulatory organ, but I will no longer purchase any Sony stuff. I was greatly dismayed when I found out that Sony was a major player in the Blue Ray developments, so I'm hoping the HD is a survivor....As someone above suggested, maybe Sony will get the hint when we (the consumers) quit purchasing their products...-
Sony...
Sony shouldn't get to have it's cake and eat it too. They should decide whether they're going to sell burners and blank disks (CD/DVD) or music. Not both. They're the biggest pirates for providing the means.Sony is Daft
In the US, Sony is WAY out in left field on this one.As far as ripping a CD and uploading it to an MP3 player goes, the courts have already ruled that personal format shifting is legal -- UNLESS the product is copy protected, in which case you have to violate the DMCA to format shift it.
As far as making a copy of a CD goes, then Sony has no legal leg what-so-ever (unless the copy is made on a PC).
The 1996 AHRA specifically exempted all non-commercial personal copying from prosecution so long as the copying occurs on an authorized device. If you use a standalone Audio CD Player/Recorder to make the copy, then you are 100% exempt from prosecution or lawsuit. Even if you want to make 1000 copies (one at a time, in compliance with SCGMS) and hand them out in the middle of Times Square, the ONLY thing Sony can do is ask you stop doing it. Sony, et al. gave up all rights to pursue litigation in these cases in exchange for a "tithe" that is added to the cost of any "For Audio" CD-R's that are sold. However, PC's, nor copies made on them, are specifically NOT included under the 1996 AHRA.
If the CD in question is copy protected, things get nastier. The DMCA specifically criminalizes any attempt to circumvent copy protection and it was passed after the AHRA, so it supercedes it.
However, if a judge was feeling particularly nasty toward Sony, then should they attempt to prosecute someone for attempting to make a copy of a copy protected CD, which they supposedly gave up the right to do in their earlier agreement in exchange for the tithe, they could based up terms specified in the 1996 AHRA be ruled in violation of it and potentially have all copyrights for the title in question STRIPPED FROM THEM.
The problem with copyright law is that it takes lots of money to successfully argue a case -- and only the big guys have the money to afford the lawyers imperpetuity.
Cripes
On crap. I just bought a new album from Sony Records. I used my Sony computer and the Sony software that came with my Sony Ericsson phone to copy the CD to the hard drive and upload the music to my Sony Ericsson phone. I had no idea this was all illegal and will immediately delete everything. I might should destroy the CD as well.Hypocrites
Anyone remember the Betamax case in the '80s?"The Betamax case was filed in the U.S. Federal District Court of Los Angeles in November 1976 and went to trial on 30 January 1979. In its defense, Sony asserted that a consumer had the absolute right to record programs at home for private use. It drew an analogy to the audio cassette recorder, which was introduced in the 1960s and had made music tapers out of millions of American teenagers. Although the practice had not been tested in the courts, Sony believed a tradition had been established."
So it's ok to..ahem.."backup" when it suits them. This type of thing just reinforces my stand on never again purchasing a Sony product.
Bullocks!
Interesting. It seems greediness know no boundaries. Why doesn't SONY (or any/all of the other media companies) invest more in making the media more resistant (as in, 4 a lifetime resistant) and give the buyers lifetime guarantee for its discs (since we're not allowed to back them up)? Apart from that, I guess I'll have to simply get used to the idea of being a modern age "pirate" @home. Ahoy matey....Silly
Haven't Sony made their money selling the Walkman? Did I use it illegally by putting music on it? Later they made the CD Walkman and the MP3 player, net enabled even. Isn't that enticement to commit a crime? Surely these products should be banned from countries with any kind of ruling against personal copying.I also thought that you were broadly allowed to create a backup of any media to protect it, if this isn't the case then Sony needs to move out of the CD and DVD writer business.
SONY foot in Mouth
Shame on you SONY, this is yet another 'foot shot' to an already much hated company. Hated for its "gun ho" litigatious nature.For instance SONY ruined import gaming for everyone on Earth.
By banning imports they over night made the PSP, a fantastic little handheld gaming tool, useless too many.
I will not be buying SONY again until they change there attitude towards there 'bread and butter' customer base. It is the above attitudes of SONY, their willingness to be litigious without prejudice that annoys most fans of SONY into not buying.
SONY behave like a schizophrenic, they are very paranoid.
OK everyone has the right to protect there 'Intellectual Property" but not at the expense of rationality and alienating there customers.
Enough said I think my rant is over.
This MUST mean...
...that Sony are pulling whats left of their range of MiniDisks and their HDD audio 'HiFis' off the shelves then, as this would directly contravene what they have said here!!legally right
Yesterday I was looking at ways of making my music library accessible via the web; and run into one legal hurdle after another.Basically the legals say that you are free to upload / copy work that you alone have the legal ownership of, so illegal to upload other peoples work you don't have the rights to.
hence if i were to upload an album for my own personal consumption it'd be legally ok as long as i produced it. if i didn't then it's all one mass gray area and i'm liable to time in court.
no good thing.
you have to understand their position as they are coming across as protecting the owner but considering music is interpreted in so many ways it's understandable how people can find problems in sony's statement.
i say it's ok to back it up to cd if said cd is in danger of going bad, for normal backup purposes, because chances are it maybe impossible to buy again (deleted works).
and if you want to host things yourself, start a radio station or join a band.
there's a lot of fun to be had in this and you'll thank yourself in later years for the experience.
Money
It`s funny to see how a multinational like Sony tries to sell us both the songs and the cd/dvd writers (and theri realtive blank supports).Why we should buy a Cd/Dvd recorder if we aren't allowed to copy a cd/dvd?
If we are pirates, well,my dear Sony you are the big Boucaneer!
Who's the biggest Pirate
Well lets make things clear-when a record company buys out a artists album-they are not limited to the number of copies that they can produce-then why are customers who purchase the CD's restricted to the number of copies they can make???well duh!!
This is their agenda from the get-go. Why do you think they are pushing Blu-ray so hard? The same idea. Can't use the information for anything else, except in its purchased form.. anything else is a danger to hegemony.. I guess you could compare it to a totalitarian regime.. but how much power have corporations worldwide.. they might get away with this in the US, but I find it hard to believe elsewhere.Sony's own mp3 encoding audio system
Gee, I wonder where Sony's MP3 audio system that lets you rip CDs to a thumb drive connected to its USB port fits in this description!http://tinyurl.com/yqx5o9
Well then....
.... best not to buy anything at all from Sony and avoid making any costly errors of judgement that would constitute an infringement of their piracy terms.Attack is the best form of defence
Sony are talking rubbish and they know it. Increasingly music comapnies are ripping the public off, they no longer spend million s promoting bands and taking chances. Almost all bands are well known before labels pick them up these days. It is long past time that rights to songs were limited to three years or so, ....... after all if most artists are to be believed "the songs write themselves". In that case why charge so much for them? Bye bye Sony and good riddance.So is Apple going to get Sued
So applications like Apple ITunes that enable you to insert a CD and "Import" songs onto your MP3 libary are in the line of fire on this?? they do make it pretty easy....Doesn't matter
For anybody to take an argument seriously, it does need to make some kind of sense. These lawyers have totally lost all sense of reality.I can tell Sony this though: ever since their rootkit-gate, anything Sony-branded is banned in my house. We don't buy anything from a company of crooks.
Copying is legal in France
Much the same goes in France as in Sweden. You are not allowed to "unlock" anti-copy protections but then again the music publisher can't use a protection that stops you making a limited number of copies.Arrest Them
- "Some of these usage agreements on the CD cases actually forbid you from lending or playing publicly."If that meant those people who play their music on the bus without using headphones can be arrested it might be worth it.
How long till gone
I have to wonder how long till company's like Sony are gone as we know them. If they are this desperate then there is something bigger going on behind the cries of stealing.They are killing them selves with there legal staff . I can say for one that my family has stopped buying from the company's that are making the people who buy there product really hate them. I can see if a company will turn away from this they will be rich indeed.
Ridiculous #3
In some circles, this is known as entrapment!Yet another PR blunder
I used to buy Sony products all the time. Eg. Vaio laptops, mobile phones and Trinitron TVs. However recently they have shown that they have utter contempt for their customers. Eg. CD Rootkit scandal, Atrac only music players, trying to sell DRMed music from their download store for $3.49 per track (how's that for greed?) and their build quality has got worse (the last Vaio I bought is a piece of sh*t). Now we have this.I recently bought a plasma panel. It wasn't Sony. I will be replacing my laptop this year. It won't be Sony. My mobile phone isn't Sony either. I will NEVER buy another Sony product as long as I live, and I will try to make sure that none of my friends or family do, and I will try to convince my friends to discourage their friends and family from buying Sony as well. Suck it up Sony! The tighter you grip the more it will slip through you fingers.
Australia
Seems ok in Australia too, according to the Attorney General..http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/MinisterRuddockHome.nsf/Page/RWPC7B0742318EF6A58CA25723B008145FC
To steal a member, or was that "Memory".
Let's see. If I remember an song, let alone hum, or sing, it to myself, I am therefore copying it and stealing it, if you want to get really technical. How absurd, songs become like our own members, attached, and we pay for the privilege and should have the right to use or newest, paid attachment, any morally, and legal, way we please, for our personal and intimate enjoyment. Such an law, does not make the law moral, but the law immoral. Under an even stricter sense, hearing an song, having not bought it, could also be considered theft.----
Under the digital copyright laws of all countries, I claim this writing here copyrighted, but only to all stupid people that support these meanly (in monetary terms) greedy anti-copying for fair use laws, and under these terms, that reading or hearing this writing requires payment, and reading or hearing is copying, and not paying is violating my copyright, and therefore theft, payment to be arranged on an case by case basis (now I am sure that there is probably some jurisdiction, with some copyright law, somewhere in the world, where this would be an valid legal argument to consider). If third parties, just happen to decide to distribute this to the mail boxes of all said people, or shout this out to them outside the offices of said people, that is nothing to do with me and I ask they not do that if they don't want to, but payment will be required.
Under an natural extension of the thoughts behind the anti-fair use copying laws, and the laws themselves, the claim above are an natural extension. However, the above is actual, not just an example, I would like my payment.
One way to conquer something absurd, is to extend it to such an absurd depth that it's absurdity is plain to see through reason. In other words, use the copyright laws my children, to take their supporters to the cleaners with as many ridiculously valid claims you can find.
Now maybe we should consider an patent for an device that cleans your teeth, that is not an toothbrush, but just happens to encompasses all the possible new extensions to an toothbrush's design. As somebody said the law is an ass, The Falcon says: the law can be an ass, and asses can produce it.
The Falcon
Sony is thus admitting that it knowlingly aids pirating
Sony claims that taking a CD and copying it to your harddrive/mp3 player is piracy..Sony provides software that does exactly that.. convert your CDs to MP3s and uploads them to the MP3 plays it sells...
While it cannot pirate itself, it can pirate other labels. Since the sony software does not check to make sure you are converting a sony disk they are admitting that their software is pirating other companies.
This is hillariously ironic... they should be fined for this attempt of commercial piracy... (only attempt because in reality it is NOT illegal - or shouldnt be - to make an MP3, although they claim it is)
Sony ? never more
Well, i stoped buying anything from sony 3 years ago..... perhaps its time to more people to follow !!