Title: Copyright laws

Author: 

Date: 03 April 2008 12:48:32 +01:00 or Thu, 03 April 2008 12:48:32 +01:00

Summary: Only a few days left to make your views known on "intellectcual property" laws.

Body: 

Copyright laws are not well-suited to modern methods of commerce, or our use of the music or books that we "buy". Ripping a CD onto an mp3 player, or watching a DVD on a PSP were not envisaged when our laws were formed. whereas you could sell a vinyl record or physical book, it's not clear that this can be done with electronic media. While I could borrow my wife's CDs and listen to them in the car, can I borrow anything she's bought from the iTunes music store and do the same thing? Should I be allowed to?

There has been a review of "Intellectual Property" in the UK, and the consultation phase is now drawing to a close. If you wish to have your views heard, the deadline for responses is Tuesday, 8th April.

I did have strong hopes for the British Library to propose sensible solutions to the problem, but their key recommendations are a bit weaker than I'd like. But I'm just an old, idealistic hacker-type who believes that information should be free (barring costs).

Notes: 

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