Digitise, download, copy, go to jail

Renaissance's Steve Ford says the record industry does not seem to mind people copying for personal use. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Whether on the bus, buying a coffee or jogging to work, everywhere you turn are the tell-tale white earplug wires leading to another digital music player - and another potential law-breaker.

Not many New Zealanders are aware that under the current law it is illegal to copy music from a legally purchased CD on to a digital music player.

But the explosion of the players is bringing increased attention to the Government's plans to amend copyright laws to allow format shifting - copying music between different technologies.

The Copyright Amendment Bill, which has been drafted but not yet considered by ministers, would allow a legitimate owner of a sound recording to make one copy in each format for private use.

Associate Commerce Minister Judith Tizard says there is no timetable for the bill as the Government is still considering its legislative programme.

For the curious, the Consumers' Institute has devoted a page on its website to explaining the dos, and more often the don'ts, of present copyright law.

It says a misconception about the legality of making a backup of an original CD in case it gets damaged probably spread from the United States.

Although disputed by the Recording Industry Association of America, many people there argue that making a backup is acceptable under the "fair use" doctrine.

In New Zealand, "fair use" applies only to copying for the purpose of criticism, review, news reporting, research or private study, not backing up music.

Consumers' Institute chief executive David Russell says many people have a vague idea they are not allowed to copy material, "but have no idea at all of the detail and the potential repercussions".

Copyright-holders could seek damages, although Russell says this is unlikely in the case of those making copies for personal use.

Steve Ford, of local iPod distributor Renaissance, says as long as people are copying for personal use, the record industry "doesn't appear to have an issue with that".

"It's not a legal issue until someone gets taken to court over it," Ford says.

In fact, it is just as illegal to copy music using out-of-fashion tape cassettes.

Recording television programmes or movies using a VCR or hard-drive recorder runs foul of the same legislation.

Videotaping television is only legal for "time shifting" - making a copy to watch at a more convenient time. Copies should not be kept any longer than necessary.

The Government's proposed legislation has no provisions in it to change this situation.

The reason for the new interest in copyright can be summed up in one word - digital, a format that has made it easy to distribute copied files over the internet.

Legitimate download stores such as Digirama have thus had to introduce digital rights management protection in order to restrict the number of copies made.

Digirama, for example, allows up to five burns to a CD and five transfers to a portable player, depending on the record label. The company is also seeking to introduce into its DRM the ability to transfer tracks to two additional computers.

Digirama managing director Shaun Davis says it is important to strike a balance between protecting content and ensuring flexibility for consumers to listen to their music.

"You'll never be able to stop people copying," he says. "You can hold a microphone to the speaker and record it."

But Davis says if the proposed bill does not include a technology-based licence restriction on copying it will be difficult to police.

The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is discussing the proposed legislation on Monday.

Spokesman Adam Holt has previously objected to the legislation, saying it would remove a cornerstone of copyright protection.

Meanwhile, moves by record companies such as Sony to develop copy-protected CDs could outpace new legislation. While Sony's CDs, which install software on computers that make them vulnerable to hackers, have been highly controversial, Digirama's Davis says protection at source is the best way to go.

He says such CDs will only let users import music into a computer as a protected media file that will prevent copying or distribution.

"Even if the Government says it's okay to rip a CD to an MP3 format, the CDs that have this technology won't let you do that anyway."