Nope, anything involving copyright act offences etc, is dealt with by Trading Standards in the U.K. They are pretty much like Customs & Exercise who have more power then the police in these matters. And as far as i know he was not selling but it dont matter if you get raided whether you are selling or not.
Well i live in Scotland and i only know of one person who was a friends dad and it was the police that kicked down his door and took his computers away, the last i heard he was heading for a bit of jail time Also YES it matters if you are selling, I know this because ive been in a house thats been raided b4. The only reason the police or anyone else will raid people if they know for a fact there selling it would be a bit hard getting the go ahead to kick sum 1's door down that is not selling ;-)
I'm very disturbed to hear all of these things and very glad I live in the U.S. Man...I know the temptation is big, to illeagaly build a large DVD library with video stores, and all of the free programs out there. I can only believe that some great attention was drawn to those who's houses were raided. And to clarify what I was asking Maven, and really just to make others more aware. How many people in the UK or in the U.S. would sell you out with nothing to lose and nothing to gain. I know my long story had nothing to do with DVD copyrights. But can you believe...that guy took time out of his day to try and get me in trouble? No one paid him more money. He didn't get more sex from his wife. I bet his dick gets smaller and his bald spot bigger every time he does something like that. But he made a great effort to bring some pain, because he probably hated his life or something. Now those of you who get excited about the fact that copy protection is often cracked by great minds in our community, even the same week as the release of the title, need to listen! TRY NOT TO RUN YOU MOUTH!! I'm only in my 30's, but have had to learned the hard way that people suck! Those who don't have the courage to do these great things, can only get satisfaction by getting other people snagged, since they are cowards! Please remember this and Happy Burning.
Trading Standards in the UK is as powerful as the IRS in the US. No checks and/or balances. They don't need proof to obtain a warrant and they can take and hold equipment on suspicion. Appears they're not accountable to anyone either. When they want the doors knocked down, they take along the police. I wonder if the police are going along willingly or not. After all, there is the cop mentality, they like knocking down doors and tearing things up for fun. So never say Trading Standards can't do something. They do as they bloody well please. Flaunting piracy on forums just makes it easier for such organizations to justify their existence.
Its all one anyway ;-) I dont sell them so i dont have any worrys, Cause thats the only way any 1 would goto jail, still a £3000 still sucks
Let's be fair about the U.K since I live here, and am proud to do so. The only time the Standard Trading folk get inolved, is when 'people' compete with legitimate trade. And if 'people' decide to take a chance, by, trading in open car boot sales with a few hundred 'G,s'of (hookie gear),or in back-street stores with rip-off VCD's in the back of a van/truck; then the revenue guys catch em, and that's their back luck. There's two sides 't every coin, apart from those well bent. And it is a reallality, here in our 'beleauged' U.K Crime whether organised or not, Drugs 'n Prostitution, Pornongraphy/AND/Paedofiles take advantage of our state. Apart from that, I gotta go with the good guys fastkart8 you really are a prat.
I'm not a resident of the UK. But I do know people who are. I also know that Trading Standards gets involved in more than just the sale of pirated music and videos and their illegal sales. As someone mentioned earlier, they get into any aspect of copyright infringement. Read some of the disclaimers and usage agreements on the software you use. Just altering a program in a certain manner entails copyright infringement. If Standards believe your activity can be classified as copyright infringement according to a usage agreement, they can come after you. All it takes is a call from someone who doesn't like you and you will at least kiss your equipment good bye until Standards takes the notion to prosecute or give it back. I wouldn't think they have the same fine for everything, but from what I hear, Standards deals harshly with anyone they go after. They aren't pushed by time so they are in no hurry to stop turning the screws on a person. By the way, this did happen and continues to happen. Trading Standards are messing with legitimate business people who someone had a grudge against. Got an enemy, report him to Standards. Most countries have a branch of government that was given too much power due to some over sight. In the US that is the IRS and there are some other questionable ones. The UK has Trading Standards. Law enforcement or the military have the unlimited powers in many countries. So, I wasn't picking on the UK; just its Trading Standards organization.
So do any of you have any links to news articles about someone being charged for simply backing up a DVD? Surely if it happened then a big deal was likely made of it. Also they could watch someone purchase a DVD burner and basically know they are going to do something illegal with it, at least by the way things are in the UK. I mean there are probably less then 1% of all people who only use their DVD burner for legal purposes according to what you are saying. Copying your own home videos and personal data are basically the only legal purpose of a DVD burner in the UK.
Trading Standards is busy all the time. However, I don't see much of them in the press for any of their work. Whether they're busting pirates or going after people who have altered software. (I have no idea if they've gone after an individual for copying his own dvds.) Some of these cases where programs have been reengineered for profit I can see as worthwhile prosecution. But where work with apps is nonprofit and harms no one, including the original author, I don't see the purpose. Trading standards has gone after people who were only helping others with their recording software. Nothing was being stolen and no one was making a buck. In fact time was being donated for free. This is the type Big Brother behavior I find unconscionable. This is where a government bureaucracy oversteps legitimate bounds to influence fair use rights by intimidating those who would help people exercise fair use rights of backing up legally owned CDs and DVDs. One only needs to check the dockets to find these cases. Plus, if you don't think there is intimidation being felt, just check with help forum administration in the UK and other EU countries and the US. Governments, with influence from the recording industries, are tightening the screws on the consumer where fair use rights are concerned.
back to the issue of backing up dvds... or for that matter copying rented dvds... each copy of a dvd that is brought into blockbuster to be rented costs the store a grand total of... $10. so basically after the dvd has been rented twice it has paid for itself. (granted, not concidering the costs of paying employees, electrical etc) Then they turn around and sell used dvds for upwards of $15. i wouldn't loose any sleep over making copies, unless of course you happen to live in the UK and have shitty friends looking to make a dime off of turning you in.
Yeah thats a good point you make, someone is making alot of money off renting them anyways. I know before the time of the DVD most of the new releases cost over $100 each on VHS unless of course it was one of the rare ones that was sold in stores on its release date. Now with the DVD I believe everything is released for sale as well as rental on the same day. Yet they still charge more money to rent then ever before.
Regarding the issue of copying rentals... doesn't the landmark case of SONY vs. UNIVERSAL grant you the right to timeshift; that is, to make a copy of rented item so that you can watch it later? The court specifically said so in regards to analog recordings made in the 1970s via BETAMAX. And the digital millenium copyright act merely forbids the decryption of items you do not have a lawful right to view; if you rent a movie, you have paid for viewing rights. Finally, when I rent movies, my kids watches them numerous times. There is no one-view limit. Therefore, I must argue that in the one week blockbuster allows me to keep a movie, I would be able to watch it something like 70 times. Why can't I timeshift; record the movie for watching those 70 times later?
They have a word for it, rationalization. The court and the movie industry don't quite see it the same way. Note the landmark case of 321 Studios. They got busted for their decryption recording apps and were ordered to stop sales, then went into bankruptcy. Notice the disclaimers this forum has on decryption programs; they ask if you live in the US. That temp viewing privilege is in no way to be construed as temporary ownership. Backing up, recording, gives ownership of the item which isn't paid for in a rental. So far, the courts view it in that manner and recording rental DVDs is illegal. The millenium act as interpreted by the court even goes against fair use privileges as we've known them in the past. Laws in the EU are even stronger in some aspects. One can't legally purchase decrypting tools in the US. The 321 case set the precedent. Even with time shift, is one allowed to use illegally gained software, no one said anything on grandfather clauses, to make a temporary recording? And of course, the owners of those DVD copies are going to trash them after their short viewing period. Or does one look at it as, "I rented it for a 2 day period; so I get to watch the 2 hr movie 24 times before I destroy the copy"? Timeshift, did they specify a start and end or just allow intervals? Since it is an older ruling, does it even hold precedent against the newer rulings? I doubt it.
