Legal

[EdwardGein]

I think we're getting too politically correct here & to shut down threads for politcally correct reasons for things that are simply untrue is ridiculous. Specifically, while it is illegal to sell copies of movies, it is not illegal to be able to make your own backup copies of DVD's. Repeat it is not illegal. Therefore it is ridiculous to stop people exchanging ideas how they accomplish this. We're not talking about downloading movies off the internet either.

Do you want to stop people from talking about DVD+R & DVD+RW's too as well as advertising. What exactly do you think people are using DVD+R's for? Are Sony, Maxell, TDK, etc. speading illegality?

[noddin0ff]

It's not the copying per se that is illegal. It is the decrypting that is illegal. But don't take my word for it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA

[N. Abstentia]

noddin0ff is correct, if it's your home movies you filmed you can copy them all day long. However if it's an encrypted DVD (any Hollywood release) then technically it's illegal to copy it because you're breaking the copy protection..whether you bought it or not.

[Eric Z]

Well said NA- it is definitely illegal to make copies of a copyrighted DVDs. Now, will you get arrested for doing it? Probably not, but it's still definitely illegal.

[noddin0ff]

Just to be clear, Eric, it is not the duplication of copyrighted material that is illegal. There are fair use reasons that would allow duplication. What is illegal is defeating the copy protection. Copy protection is not copyright. The DMCA made it illegal to defeat the encryption which provides copy protection. If you could make a copy without defeating the copy protection then you would not be breaking the law. However, copy protection makes it impossible for individuals to make fair use duplicates of copyrighted material. Copy that?

[Eric Z]

copy that, noddinoff- thanks for the clarification! i found an article that supports your points as well.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-5128652.html

[EdwardGein]

Without getting into debates about this what exactly are Sony, Maxell & other places who manufacture DVDR/RW's doing differnetly from the people who manufacture & sell bongs which is what Chong of Cheech & Chong got arrested for- apparently its illegal to sell bongs online or something. Do you really think that people are buying millions of DVDR's too make exactly what as there are not many DVD's that aren't encrypted. Furthermore, why then is there free software online to decrypt stuff? This doesn't make any sense to me. It reminds me, when I was younger, I don't know if they're doing this today, when I was watching Yankee games on my local channel WPIX in NY, the announcer would always say (and this was before VCR's were invented) "reproduction of this game is forbidden by the commissioner of baseball."

[Mr Peabody]

I can see why Hollywood wants copy protection but it would be nice, and I think it should be legal, for me to be able to make a back up copy for myself. I pay an average of $20.00 for my kids annomated movies and now we have a DVD player in the van so I would like to make copies for the van use so the original don't get trashed. I paid extra for a DVD burner on my computer to do this, boy did I feel funny when the error message popped up telling me the DVD couldn't be recorded because of copy guard. So, I either find a way to record the back ups or be very careful with the original.

[EdwardGein]

My heart bleeds for people like Brad Pitt who might only make $5 million instead of $15 million for piracy! As a good friend, RIP, said to me when we were in college and had a big exam coming & instead of studying I was watching the baseball game on TV because I was a Tom Seaver/NY Mets fan- "You think Tom Seaver gives a damn about you."!

Personally, I have little respect for the movie and music industry. Did you know that originally the movie industry tried to make VCR's illegal and that turned into a billion dollar industry for them. They basically view any technological advances that benefit people like you and me as threats and try to inanely stop it. Yeah sueing a 12 year old girl for downloading mp3's really accomplishes alot. Recently, some high Washington DC official (this was in the paper here) came to LA and spoke about the evils of downloading to some high school kids who took it all as a joke. I'm sure most of us would be willing to pay a license to download an unlimited amount of songs that we could burn as CD's for say $250 a year or so and the record industry would make money hand in foot. Instead they think 100% of nothing is worth more than 5% of something. I'm curious how they managed to get this supposed law on DVD's out when I don't see a difference on VHS tapes.