DISQUS

Chris Pratt · 8 months ago

For some reason this post is getting heavy comment spam.

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SJB · 6 months ago

You are not allowed "by law" to make fair-use (backup, or archival) copies of DVDs. Copying DVDs for any reason is currently illegal under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which prohibits the circumvention of encryption technologies, such as the CSS on DVDs, in order to make a copy. Just fyi.

Chris Pratt · 6 months ago

Incorrect. Fair Use allows you to make copies of any software, music, DVDs, etc. that you own. The DMCA, only says that it's unlawful to crack the CSS protection if it exists on those items. Therefore, at its heart DMCA would only exclude media with copy-protection mechanisms. But, even there, who is truly doing the "cracking" of the CSS? The end-user or the developer of the software the user makes use of.

The DMCA, plain and simply, is a legal trainwreck, the language of which is often contradictory and clearly in violation of previous legal pronouncements (i.e. Fair Use). Whether it's illegal or not under the DMCA, I'll leave to the law professors. But, as none of them can agree on anything, you're not going to see a court case for CSS-decrypting for Fair Use purposes.

The only law that is clear on this particular issue is Fair Use and thus holds precedent.

FOXEO · 1 month ago

Hi Chris. Actually, last I read about copyright law and according to my most recent conversation with IP lawyers, you are indeed *not* allowed to make backup copies of DVDs, whether you own them or not. Some areas of copyright law are vague and contain a lot of gray area, but apparently this is pretty clear.

Fair Use is the least "clear" of any copyright law IMO. It is the most niched area of the law and contains a lot of murky waters that even expert IP lawyers have trouble navigating. Fair Use is the most overrated aspect of copyright law, and I would guestimate that 99% of the time, when someone mentions Fair Use as their defense it is plainly wrong usage of the law.

It may be possible to fight the "no backup" rule for DVDs on the grounds that this restricts Fair Use rights. And while we're at it, we should fight the encryption methods too, since it also impedes the right to Fair Use (despite how little that actually is properly used). Australia is a world leader in this realm, fighting for consumer's rights over the power of media moguls demanding more control over their content.

The "Pirate Bay" concept of copyright is plainly wrong and gives far too much power to the consumer, but the RIAA and the "Hollywood" concept of copyright law gives far too much power to the producers of this content.

Chris Pratt · 4 weeks ago

Your comments just go to further demonstrate that these are murky waters no one cares to tread. Regardless of individual interpretations of the laws, I again state with reasonable certainty that you will never see an individual dragged to court over creating backup copies of their DVD collection. First, in order to even bring a lawsuit, the plaintiff would have to demonstrate some financial detriment from the user's act. Since the DVDs were purchased, the suit would never survive summary judgement. This whole issue is entirely separate from pirating music and movies from torrent sites like TPB, and shouldn't be viewed in the same light as cases brought against users in those scenarios. This is Fair Use at its core.

detroitrec · 4 months ago

is the mp4 better than the h.264

Chris Pratt · 4 months ago

h.264 *is* mp4; it's simply an mp4 encoding method, and by far the best mp4 encoding method.

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