Ripping – Soon to be legal in the UK

Got yourself a CD or a DVD ? Want to rip it to MP3 or an MP4 video file so that you can play it on your phone ? Woah.. wait a minute there soldier, you’ve probably just broken the law.

At least, that’s the way things used to be, because the law looks set to change. Government here in the UK are about to tweak the UK copyright law to allow “format shifting”, making it legal to rip CD’s and DVD’s for personal use.

“Ripping” has been going on for many years but the recent Hargreaves Review of UK copyright law has put forward suggestions for change. Simon Levine, Joint Global Head of Intellectual Property and Technology at law firm DLA Piper told the BBC that..

The review pointed out that if you have a situation where 90% of your population is doing something, then it’s not really a very good law.

It’s still illegal to share music and video online but, with this amendment, you will be able to convert your media into any format provided you’ve purchased the media yourself.

Link – BBC

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