[Free-sklyarov-uk] your chance to contribute

[Martin Keegan]

On Mon, 10 Dec 2001, tobyslater wrote:

> "Copy Protection. Should the music industry be working towards a situation
> where the CDs it sells will play in all players, but won't be capable of
> being ripped to MP3 or CDRs? How far away from this are we?

To answer the first question:

The technology may change, but the music industry should not be permitted
to alter the balance between the producers of music and its consumers. 

The industry is allowed to control much of the use of its music through
the law of copyright, which is a special permission granted by the State
to secure for artists (and their agents in the industry) an incentive
to produce new works. However, this concession is limited: it expires
after a fixed period, and does not prevent fair dealing and use by public
libraries, critics, and students, for various purposes specified by law.

The technological measures the industry wants to introduce may restrict
this fair use, and thereby swing the balance towards the industry. There
is no guarantee that if the music industry controls how and when someone 
can listen to music, that this control will not be abused. What incentive
is there for the industry to ensure that its copyprotection measures
expire when its actual legal copyright expires? Or that public libraries
can continue to lend out CDs and videos? There is a positive disincentive.

The result is more money extracted from consumers of music, for the same
gain, and cultural impoverishment through the lowered availability of
artistic works to the general public.

Mk