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Norway proposing new copyright laws

Written by James Delahunty @ 11 Feb 2005 11:12 User comments (19)

Norway is proposing new copyright laws that would make it illegal for CD owners to copy their music to MP3 files to portable music players. The strange thing however, is that the law would allow you to copy a DVD or CD to the same medium. "For example, a CD's (security code) could be cracked to play a recording on a car stereo, since a CD-player would be seen as an appropriate medium," the news release said. "But the security code could not be cracked to copy the recording onto an MP3 player, since such a device would not be seen as an appropriate for a CD."
Not appropriate? OK, I see what this is all about. If you have, let’s say an old Metallica CD at home and a brand new iPod, you want the Metallica songs on your iPod so you decide to rip it with Exact Audio Copy to MP3 format right? WRONG! These new laws would make that illegal so instead you would have to run along to iTunes and purchase that same music all over again. That’s a Win/Win situation for the music industry but a very unfair one for consumers.



Gisle Hannemyr, of the University of Oslo's Department of Informatics, said the law was unclear and unenforceable. "We are going to be a nation of lawbreakers if this law is passed in its current form," he said on the state radio network NRK. For his part, Hannemyr said he has already copied an appropriate song for his own MP3 player: Radiohead's "Hail to the Thief." The Movie and Music Industry however, applauded this proposal.

A Norwegian man, Jon Lech Johansen is known worldwide as DVD-Jon after he made his program, DeCSS available to the entire internet. You could then use this to rip your DVD to your HDD, and with the right editing tools, could compress a DVD-9 movie to fit on a DVD-R (although at the time, people focused more on DivX and VCD/SVCD mostly). Norwegian courts however, ruled that he could not be convicted for making or using a tool to break into his own property, in form of films that he had legally purchased.

Source:
Yahoo

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19 user comments

111.2.2005 12:49

are you sure that norway is proposing this? as a country? well, i believe it wonīt pass. and if it does, consider it the revenge of the whales ;) my symphaties for my fellow nordic citizens. finland will surely follow, but file sharing and digital conversion are here to stay.

211.2.2005 16:36

fuc$ that sh*t people well still use there mp3's there, how would there be any way that they could control what people do in there own time. Also how could that be illegal to have a cd that you all redy own and move it to a ipod. That is stupied you legaly own that music and you should be able to do what ever the hell you want to do with it.

311.2.2005 16:39

"the law was unclear and unenforceable" How in the hell could someone find out? It's impossible! He's absolutly right. Everyone would disregard the law and break it.

411.2.2005 17:32

yeah how the hell could they find out are they going to go door to door and search your house for a mp3 player that has your cd's in it!

511.2.2005 18:14
Jeoff
Inactive

This is just silly not one person will ever be caught. EVER. Why can't policymakers work on useful laws and not useless stuff like this?

612.2.2005 05:02

firslty this isn't just Norway. it is to conform with upcoming EU regulations. Secondly don't say it is unenforcable. It will have an impact on proposed business that might offer converting, on technology that will allow or "induce" and all kind sof other chilling of progress.

712.2.2005 06:12

like yall are saying "who would actually enforce this law"? im a municiple police officer and it nver even crosses my mind when i find dubed cds and even dvds for that matter. Its amazing what you find when searching people homes and vehicles. I would think that about 95% of all officers on the municiple, county, and state level completly ignore this type of thing. And as for as that goes even the feds are not going to really pushing the issue unless you are selling the things. Bottom line is, local lawenforcment is not going to seize these mp3 players when they are find certain music on them. First off, how do you know what music is protected under this "new law". Im sure there will be a list somewhere, but is absurd to think that officers are going to spend their time doing this when they have better thing to be doing. lastly, im all for the freedom of backing up personal dvd's and cd's. as is a certain percent of lawenforcement on a local level.

812.2.2005 07:54

-I thaugth I saw a pussycat! Why they just don't charge for the appropriate expences of the new release? Do I have to pay over and over more for rights? Just ask me to pay for the cost of the media (jewel box, media, labeling, etc depending upon the media) at the right price (max. 0,88 Euro)... This remind me the ancient times of cassette tape recordes when they tried to forbit the selling of virgin tapes!

912.2.2005 15:47

Thats one fucked up law. I really think the only way you could get caught is if you went ouside a police department with a generator and your computer and mp3 player, and had them watch as you ripped the CD and transferred it to your player. GOD! I can't believe they think this is right. I just hope the RIAA doesn't get any ideas from this.

1013.2.2005 02:04

Yeah thats all a bit stupid but if the law specifically says its illegal to rip to mp3 format all you have to do is rip to another audio format. ipod supports all of these. AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF, Audible.

1113.2.2005 07:15

norways stupid anyway :)

1213.2.2005 19:29

From the Article: Norwegian courts however, ruled that he could not be convicted for making or using a tool to break into his own property, in form of films that he had legally purchased. Why can't the U.S. (more directly the MPAA and RIAA) learn from this, its LEGAL to backup your OWN sh*t. EDITED by Pop_Smith, as I had the above quoted which took off the bolding.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Feb 2005 @ 7:31

1313.2.2005 23:12

Quote:
The Movie and Music Industry however, applauded this proposal.
Applauding a proposal like this is just dumb; they do have some credibility left with people and saying stuff like that eats away that credibility and shows just how greedy and useless they are. "Yay! Letīs make people pay for stuff several times. Letīs completely control how people use the goods theyīve bought". By all human logic a proposal like this should be impossible to make a law out of. But then, thatīs just from my point of view - and there are always the lobbyists. The increased polarization between the entertainment industry and the consumers will have some interesting results.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Feb 2005 @ 11:27

1414.2.2005 17:34

Thats so pathetic.

1511.12.2008 22:06

As far as I know it is illegal still in my country (New Zealand) to copy CD's to your ipod or even make a backup CD. I think it may have changed since then, but in any case nobody really cares and everybody does it anyway, even police officers and sometimes people in the film industry.

1615.12.2008 07:26

Whoa, necropost : D

1720.1.2009 18:00

Um, I'm fairly unknowledgeable to the internet so what does the term necropost mean? Does it mean saying something morbid or replying to something out of date?

1821.1.2009 04:05

Necroposting is when you post a new message in a very old discussion thread, one thought to be "dead" a long time ago. The last post before yours is from early 2005.

You didnīt do anything wrong, I was just surprised to get an e-mail notification from a thread this old : )

What part of "kiwiland" are you from?

193.2.2009 17:59

Oh, I'm from the suburb of massey which is in the auckland area. Since I last posted they have just introduced a new law in New Zealand where you can lose your internet connection if you are merely suspected of copyright infringement which was being talked about when I noticed this post which is why I replied. I personally prefer vinyl (or some better fom of digital) over compressed mp3s and Ifigure if I'm willing to pay sevety buks to get something on vinyl it shows I'm willing to pay for music. But mp3's suck so why not rip them off as a protest?

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