I got the impression circumventing DRM on your own is legal (especially for interoperability reasons) however distributing said tools isn't. But then, IANAL and I don't even play one on TV
Either way, the law changes are a very welcomed one and a much needed step in the right direction. Lots more remains to be fixed, but I think format shifting was overdue ever since using iPods and other mp3 players became mainstream.
I'm also glad that the gov took a stance on the iTax and haven't implemented it. It's beyond silly to levy a tax on music players just because they "might" be used to infringe copyright. Aside from anything, the moment you do that it's just one more reason people will use to justify piracy, after all they've paid a tax for the content now. Meanwhile those of us who do abide by copyright laws and buy music/books, end up paying more for all our hardware.
Is their a tax in the UK on paper because it might be used to copy books? Not been funny, that's a genuine question as afaik some countries do have such taxes, which seems rather silly to me, I'm just not sure if we do? I know several also have such taxies on recordable media too.
Quote:
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Musicians' Union general secretary John Smith said: "We feel strongly that the lack of fair compensation will significantly disadvantage creators and performers in relation to the vast majority of their EU counterparts.
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Yes, because it's not enough that we buy movies on VHS, then DVD and then BluRay and then 3D BluRay but you also want us to rebuy the content again just to play it on a PC or mobile. Well [censored] [more censoring] [censoring of the censoring of the censor because of censored] you.
I fail to see how getting money at the price you asked for it when everyone bought the CD/Movie/Book isn't fair compensation? Why should it be considered unfair that we then copy that media into a format most suitable to the device we intend to consume it on? Be that a kindle, a phone, a desktop...
I have to say, I'm rather surprised the government haven't implemented the iTax. I imagine that'll change in time though, but perhaps I'm just a jaded pessimist.