Copy Protection Legal...

[X7z]

I'm still waiting on a response from oficial sources on this but the doubt is:

As a buyer and therefore legal owner of a disk (CD/DVD) am i intitled to make a copy of it for personal use (ie.: to preserve the original from damage)?
If the answer to this question is yes, then according to national law, the publisher of the disk is obliged by law to provide me with a way to make a usable copy of the disk or to provide me of as many copies as i need.
If the answer is no, then we should all begin pressing our consumer rights associations to demand that right! Afterall, noone likes to see a scratched disk, for wich have payed good money, after a few usages!

[NetSoerfer]

X7z, the answer to your question depends on which country you're in. Before a (probably pretty unqualified) discussion arises, please try searching on google for this, you'll find a lot of information on copy protections, fair use, and the right to make backups on the internet.

[evilkittypiro]

Last time I checked (about 2 months ago for a speech), in the US you are legally entitled to make a single copy of a media container for backup purposes. You are also granted the right to make a single copy for every alternate medium you use the media on. This means that if you buy a music CD, you can make a copy to protect the original, and you can copy the songs to your harddrive and to your iPod. Taking away those rights is illegal, like taking away any other granted rights.

This applies to disc protections and to DRM systems. However, cd-key systems are still legal, as they restrict usage to one person at a time, yet the media container can still be copied. Making it impossible for everyone to copy the disc or file for a media product is illegal as of right now. Congress is letting DRM slide, having deep ties with the media in the US and not wanting them to make the congressmen look bad (last part's speculation). That's expected, but DRM will just not see much legit usage as people will botcott it like Starforce. As for game protection systems, most of them are developed -outside- the US by US backed companies just to get around US law. Technically that makes systems like Starforce legal, though having a market intently focused on the US should make certain US laws applicable the minute that product/system touches US soil. That's still a debate, one that is just getting fired up.

Enough of my ranting though. I think too much. In the US, yes you have the right to make single copies. That's just personal use, there's also free use...lol.

[Jito463]

The basic argument the game publishers provide is that "just because the law allows you to make a backup doesn't mean (they) have to make it easy". The problem is the wording of the law. It doesn't state that you are entitled to make a backup, it states you are "allowed" to make a backup. The key difference being that entitled means it's a right, allowed means they'll let you do it, but they don't have to make it easy. And as NetSoerfer said, it depends on where you live, too. I'm quoting based on US laws, but laws differ from country to country.

[Kinlaadare]

This might be forbidden in france... But the way that damn law is worded, it will end in : burners are forbidden... F*****g politicians who don't enven knoiw what they're talking about!

[X7z]

Countries...

Well, i'm in Portugal and here we can make a copy. But as said the interpretation of the law makes it so that it would be very hard to force companies to abide to it.
The fault of this situations is, of course, to law makers (aka: politicians); allowing that big corporations to take shelter on the interpretation of the law.
I think that law should be clear and objective on this matters. Because, since we can, legally, make a copy for backup (as in US), we would expect it to be a pretty straight-forward process, not having to recurr to third party programs to crack the protection system that comes along with the original!

This all situation really stinks!

[Clownatwar]

@Topic:

the problem is that you're not honest.

The best idea as of now is to entitle EVERY distribution company to be able to replace the physical discs no matter the damage or age, without any fee beside the 1 dollar postage. We mainly pay for the data, not only for the plastic and chemicals. And since distributors legally masscopy themselves and make money out of it, they should share.

Personally I never severely scratched my discs, and they always kinda worked even after some worn signs. Although I'm extracautious because of the fact that if it's damaged, there's no way I'm getting a new one for free.

"Protect the disc from scratches" sounds like a code phrase in order to trigger a lame excuse for copying discs! lol

[X7z]

The problem is that the right of the owner is being violated by copy protection systems!
And i already had to trash some original discs because of damage caused by NORMAL usage! Of course i couldn't get a free replacement disc so the alternative was clear!
Then we hear this developers whinning that software piracy ruins their profits? Well, buh-uh!

[NetSoerfer]

Funny how even CDs from 1996 are still perfectly usable here...

[clemento]

Oh how i long for the good old days of the Amiga where the first thing you used to read in any Micorprose game manual was

"Make a backup of your original disks and put them in a safe place"

LOL

[DarthTyranus]

Unfortunately bypassing copy protection in your legal backup may be illiegal under the DMCA (some interpretations are only that making tools for doing so is illegal).
And there's a new proposed DMCA2 that would change a number of things, including making bypassing copy protection a jailible offense.

One of the new penalties would be 10 years minimum jailtime for non commercial copyright infringment. Last I checked, its less jail for running someone over, or raping someone.

Here's one of the many news stories on it, there's plenty more with a quick google.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/86820/dmca-version-20-released.html

[JoelEllison]

I thought the kind of copy protection you are not allowed to get around is anything that uses "encryption" under that law. And protected CDs and DVDs with wierd sectors or layouts or visible rings don't fall under that category.

[Spudwiser]

I bought a copy of City Life and X3, which i imported from the UK. They both have starforce protection. I quickly fired off an e-mail to the companies and didnt get a responce. So, naturally, i asked a family memebr who is a lawyer. He told me that in Canada, if i purchased the game in my home country that, by law, they need to provide me with a way to make a Legal Copy of the game for back up, but because i bought the game from the UK and had it shipped that I have to go by their laws, which i dont know what they entail. I know, now that companies are using Starforce, which by far is the best protection there is (I have no problems with it, nor do i think it is a virus like some) it is going to be harder to make a playable back-up. This will be eventually solved though as copy software becomes more advanced. Personally though i have only ever had one disk failed because of mis-handleing when i was moving from my old place. Other than that I use all my original disks, but i have back-ups just in case.