UK Copyright Reform Just More Of The Same
Date : 08 Jan 2008 Category : Business
Techdirt
Over in the UK, some proposals for copyright reform have been announced, and there's not much interesting there. It takes recommendations from the infamous Gowers report, which we noted at the time was too balanced for its own good. For example, it includes an officially declared right for consumers to make personal copies (something that's worth mentioning following the recent RIAA kerfuffle), but it also puts in place an anti-circumvention clause a la the DMCA. There are, of course, huge problems with anti-circumvention rules that make it suddenly illegal to do something that is otherwise perfectly legal (like making private copies for personal use). By adding in an anti-circumvention clause, the personal copying clause is effectively meaningless, because the industry just needs to add any DRM, no matter how weak, and claim that any personal copies circumvent. The fact that the UK version of the RIAA has thrown its support behind these changes (while warning that it better not include any lessening of rights to copyright holders) should tell you all you need to know about how much actual "reform" there is in this particular attempt at copyright reform.
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