Of course Hilary Rosen and the major label execs. would have you believe so. But is it really? Lets think about that for a minute. Under current copyright law there may be a serious problem with copy protection. Here's the rub. When a copyright expires (currently 95 years for corporate and life plus 75 years for individual) the CD will still be copy protected. Under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) it is illegal to break that copy-protection/encryption under any circumstance.

So if you buy a copy protected CD, and leave it your to children or grandkids, they could be prosecuted under the DMCA for accessing the protected files even though they are in the public domain. In addition to the potential criminal charges, the access will be denied to those who don't have the hacking skills to circumvent the copy-protection/encryption or the chutzpah to risk breaking the law. Granted, there will always be those who can, and will, and they are the minority. But the average computer user has no clue as to how to do that, nor do they want to, nor should they have to.

I've spent countless hours thinking about the implications of CD copy protection and it troubles me immensely. Other than the fact that the recording industry is treating its paying customers as criminals, the very idea of CD copy-protection that makes copyright infinite (not limited term) violates not only the spirit of the copyright bargain, it may very well violate the law, with the copyright holders seizing more than they are entitled to under the law. Remember copyright is a bargain between the public and the author, not a grant of an unlimited monopoly for an infinite term.

Even if the recording industry places notice on the CD packaging and CD itself does not release them from the obligation under copyright law to allow that work to go into the public domain. All that does is allow you the consumer to make a choice to buy a crippled CD or not. Copy protection does not expire it lasts forever.


Corrupt CDs Investigation
boycott-riaa list
Fatchucks
Article on PC World

Since copy protected CDs first popped up, one question has lingered in my mind...Do these copy protected CDs hinder our ability take advantage of our rights under the fair use doctrine? The way I see it, the answer is a big fat YES. If I'm not mistaken, the fair use doctrine provides us with the right to make copies of CDs for our personal use. These copy protected CDs are basically taking that right away from us.

One question: what the heck is 'chutzpah'?!

One entry found for chutzpah.

----------------------

Main Entry: chutz·pah
Variant(s): also chutz·pa /'hut-sp&, '[k]ut-, - (")spä/
Function: noun
Etymology: Yiddish khutspe, from Late Hebrew huspAh
Date: 1892
: supreme self-confidence : NERVE, GALL

This whole reliance on "copy protection" clearly shows the extent to which the "copyright industry" believes that the average consumer is not to be trusted under any circumstances whatsoever. It shows their paranoid contempt towards the consumer, as well as a certain negativist and exclusivist attitude, sort of akin to the Dark Ages when all aspects of art, culture, knowledge, ideas etc., were squirreled away in monasteries, all but kept away from the public at large. Their whole motto appears to be, "Screw the consumer and what they want, we're only gonna give 'em what WE want to give 'em from now on." And remember, they don't even see "fair use" as a right at all, but merely a 'privilege' to be revoked at will if they so decree (not unlike the mentality of an absolute monarch or dictator).

If this is how they're going to conduct business and consumer relations from this point forward, then we as a society are, to quote former President Bush (Sr.), in "deep doo-doo" indeed. This last Thursday (Apr. 1, a Wall Street analyst appearing on CNBC was basically saying that the industry's strategy was potentially fatal not only for itself but for the society at large. She noted that all cultures thrived whenever there was open communication on art, culture, ideas and the like, and that when the emphasis was on utter secrecy and everything stashed away, tight as a drum, bottled up so tightly no-one or nothing could breathe, etc., such cultures fell faster than . . . (check any episode of A&E's "City Confidential" for appropriate analogy).

I have to agree with Frawg on this one. I've had the same question since day one.
I'll go so far as to say that if fair use isn't a right.. then they should try to take it away. I bet THAT would get a lot more attention on CapHill. Taking away rights and SAYING these rights are being taken away _always_ seems to get more attention than just taking away "privilege". Nuff said?

they're wasting their precious time and money with copyright protection. All that is needed is one person with the skills to get the song onto a computer(and its still incredibly easy) and then anyone who wants it can get it, through any number of file sharing programs. the rest is history. the ONLY way i see them stopping the cd burning craze is to eliminate mp3 to wav converters, but that is never going to happen, because they have no legal recourse. its over, riaa. just let it go. get rid of copy protection, because all you're doing is troubling your legit buyers.

if the riaa wants to keep people from getting free music is to wait a few years until cds are obsolete and sell mp3s(or whatever the popular format is at the time). There are many more ways you can keep an mp3 from being shared.

put new music on laserdisc.. better yet, audio files played back thru audio out on a betamax video cassette machine. I bet that would stop "piracy"

Why don't we just put up a list of copy-protected CDs so people will know just what not to buy?

Remye... One can still port music from a betamax to the comp via a card with an ADC chip.

phandal.. I know.. that was the point ... and if you goto fatchucks.com they've got a list started.. by and large from consumers that are dissatifisifed with the whole thing..

ehh, it's all messed up. I greatly fear that if the CBDTPA bill were to somehow survive a "retard's way in a maze" chance to become a law that copyright cd's will be more manditory. If congress were to address user rights first and foremost then stupid proposels like mentioned wouldn't be even given a second look. However the 50-70 year old folks runnin the senate who probably couldn't tell an Atari 7800 system from a Dell Intel Pentium IV system hence the paranoid measures such as making cd's functionally imparred. I'm so damn sick of it it ain't even funny .

Careful about those 50 year olds...we invented computers...

yeah yeah tack, and the atomic bomb, and barney.. *duck*
more to the point tho, I honestly still believe that if somehow the focus could shift from the money to the rights of the individual this whole issue would definitely take 90 degree turn. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I"ve had pretty good luck with my congressman on other issues. Maybe that's where we should be again. Congressman are supposed to represent and support the needs/desires of the people who put them in office (constituents). If they don't do this, they get voted out. The people DO speak, but only when _RIGHTS_ are threatened. hrmm.. but that's another rant huh??