Final rules on back-ups?

[JHITT]

Hello all, I am new here. I was wondering what the "final verdict" or the consensus is regarding whether or not we can legally back-up our bought and paid for DVDs and BDs. The 'net and search results seem to be rather outdated these days and fresh, accurate info is rather valuable to me. The impression I am getting is that we have gone from "That's it! Pack it up, it's over!" to a more lenient or tolerant "Sure, as long as its yours and you bought it." kind of atmosphere. I just want to preserve my investment. I am aware of almost every way of doing it and have the means, but the question is, are we truly allowed by law or not? To even mention this is taboo in some places but yet the software is everywhere. We're talking about top quality software here, not secret underground programs. So, what gives? Thank you in advance.

[hech54]

You won't find a straight answer because nobody (politicians mostly) wants to deal with it. Last I heard the general rules were that you are allowed to back-up anything you purchased....but not allowed to break the encryption codes on DVD and Blu Ray. You cannot do one without the other so....re-read sentence #1.

[JHITT]

Fair enough...lol. Everything seems to be bouncing back and forth between "fair use" and circumventing the encryption. Opinions concerning morals and ethics are plentiful. I also understand the purchase of a license rather than the purchase of a licensed copy of a film....or the copyrights for that matter. I was just hoping that something might have changed or been updated recently. This stuff tends to stay in court and present new rulings periodically. But alas, it seems to have not. So basically backups equals piracy. Spectacular. Well, it is time for media with a lifetime warranty....lol. Thank for the help anyways.

[jagabo]

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.2281.ENR:

No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.

The Librarian of Congress has not made an exception for DVD backup.

The most complicated exemption focuses on DVDs. Between now and 2015, it will be legal to rip a DVD “in order to make use of short portions of the motion pictures for the purpose of criticism or comment in the following instances: (i) in noncommercial videos; (ii) in documentary films; (iii) in nonfiction multimedia e-books offering film analysis; and (iv) for educational purposes in film studies or other courses requiring close analysis of film and media excerpts, by college and university faculty, college and university students, and kindergarten through twelfth grade educators.” A similar exemption applies for “online distribution services.”

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/blogs/annoyedlibrarian/2012/10/29/the-librarian-of-congre...-and-fair-use/

[jman98]

The reality is that no entertainment company in the USA has ever taken a person to court for making backups of discs they bought themselves. The law, as hech54 and jagabo point out, technically makes such illegal. However, the entertainment industry lives in fear of another "Sony vs. Universal" verdict that would find fault with the laws and make personal backups legal so they are unwilling to push the matter.

If you object to making backups because they are "illegal" because of religious reasons, then understand that you will likely not ever in your lifetime be able to make backups. Given how the entertainment companies are unwilling to test the law by going after someone, and individual consumers don't really have a good way to challenge the law either (and probably shouldn't as they could also lose if it got to court), there's no perception of any need to change the law. Plus, the movie studios have more money than you do and they can just continue to influence Congress to get what they want, which is to keep the law in place. If you are unwilling to do backups because you fear that The Man is going to break down your door and arrest you for this "crime", that is not logical for the reasons I stated earlier.

[transporterfan]

The UK is different again. The general opinion is that making backups will 'soon' be legal in the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20802043

Admittedly this was back before Christmas and there is plenty of time for backpedaling yet.
The thing is, the laws differ from one country to another, so in the future it could lead to ridiculous scenarios where people go to the UK, buy their discs, get a friend to copy them while they're there (perfectly legally), and still be arrested for bringing the copies into the USA. Ludicrous is the logic of the Law.

[Hoser Rob]

I think most of the anti piracy effort is going towards all those people who have filled up terabytes of drive space with torrented content. As such I wouldn't worry about the police knocking down your door for copying your own dvds. Which, BTW, I totally consider fair use anyway.

[deadrats]

it always amazes me when someone posts a question such as this; let's assume that it's 100% illegal to do so and that the penalty for doing it is life in prison with extreme sodomy and all your relatives and descendants will be horsewhip 3 times a day for the rest of eternity. who cares? i would still tell you to rip the damn dvd and/or blu-ray because the practical answer is "what they don't know won't hurt you". how are the movie studios or law enforcement going to find out?

do whatever you want and stop caring about what some ridiculously rich prick wants, if you drop dead tomorrow do you think any movie studio exec will shed a tear for you or pay for your funeral?

f*ck them all, let God sort it out.

[jagabo]

f*ck them all

Well, of course! That's not sarcasm, it's full agreement.