h a l f b a k e r yInvented by someone French.
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How about a service where people upload some contact details and upload the details of their CD collection. In return for this, they get to browse through the CD collections of everyone else on the system.
If you find an album you're dlike to hear listed on the site, you click on a link which sends
a request to whoever's got the album. They send it to you and then you send it back when you're done.
Some smart software could monitor what's going on so that you could only borrow one or two albums at a time.
Obviously there's potential for some abuse here, and further checks and balances might be needed, but is there the bones of a good idea here?
US: TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 1 > § 109
http://www4.law.cor...000109----000-.html
You can't rent out CDs you own for money. But how about for free? [jutta, Jul 29 2005]
(?) Canada: Private copying mostly OK
http://www.cb-cda.g.../c20032004fs-e.html
[jutta, Jul 29 2005]
(?) Droit de Suite
http://www.out-law.com/page-5318
Coming to an EU country near you. [coprocephalous, Aug 04 2005]
[link]
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How is this legal, unless all the members are registered libraries? |
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Maybe the law is different in your neck of the woods, but where I come from, it is perfectly legal for people to borrow CD's from each other. |
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Take a look at a CD case once in a while. I'd bet that somewhere on it it would tell you that it is a criminal offense to "lend, rent or reproduce this CD without prior permission from the copywrite holder" or something to that effect. Lending CD's is mostly illegal, it is also impossible to enforce while it is low-tech. |
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What [h_t] said - it probably also says you're not allowed to sell it on either. |
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Here's what it says on this random CD I just pulled from the pile: "Warning: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by Federal law and subject to criminal prosecution". |
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So, this doesn't talk about lending or resale at all. In fact it doesn't really tell you anything -- there's some federal law, and whatever that law prohibits, you know, that "unauthorized" thing? - it's illegal. Well, duh. |
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Here's what it says on this random CD I just pulled from the pile: "Unauthorized (guess it must be an American CD) copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited." I can't imagine the word "lending" being much clearer. |
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I don't know that lending would be legitimate, but per the First Sale doctrine, one certainly can give, sell, other otherwise relinquish ownership of one's purchased music to another person without any payment to, or permission from, the copyright holder. |
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It would be interesting to see how record companies reconcile this with some of their DRM technologies which would interfere with such legal use of their materials. Of course, record companies hate used-CD stores but by law they have a right to exist. |
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This is a variation of an idea I thought of a long time ago, not to put into being, but as something very bad that somebody could do. |
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Begin rant:
Here's the bottom line, we make up the laws regarding personal property, intellectual as well as physical, as we go along. There's no geometric logic or grand universal rules to follow. Either we respect intellectual property as something worthy of protecting or just decide those who make it don't deserve our help in being paid for it's use. |
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If we decide we don't feel like protecting it's worth, it will be worthless. You can then kiss it goodbye. Let's put it this way, if intellectual property was disrespected in England during the last mid century like it was in say, the Soviet Union for instance, why would two bright young guys from Liverpool with their whole lives and careers ahead of them bother starting a band? Think John Lennon and Paul McCartney would have wasted their efforts on writing songs that may have, at best, supplemented their income a little bit while they worked at shitty jobs in some shipyard? (No disrespect to shipyard workers, but it ain't rock-stardom) |
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You take away the money... |
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You take away the incentive... |
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You get no more music, art, literature or movies. |
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Or to be more precise, whatever music, art, literature and movies you get aren't going to be created by the private sector, because the best and the brightest in the private sector will be busy doing something that makes money. Check out what’s available in North Korea where the government provides all the entertainment if you want a taste of that level of crap. |
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So if you decide to have some kind of red October style revolution against the "music industry" don't be surprised when one day you're sitting in your government supplied 22'x22' windowless living box, eating your government supplied "nutrition log" and you ask your government appointed "life mate": "Hey, what ever happened to music?" |
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End of rant.
Disclaimer: In the interest of openness, I'll point out that I depend on royalties from music I've written to help feed my family so I'm not un-biased on the subject. |
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Thanks for the interesting comments on this guys. It's certainly given me a number of areas to think about. |
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I am really suprised that in the US you need some permission to share your property. It seems utterly alien to me. I'm not even sure I understand what it means. If I lived in the US bought a CD, and left it beside my stereo, would if be illegal for my kid to pick it up and stick it into the stereo? Is that lending? Would it be different if he stuck it in portable player and took it out of the house? What if my brother wanted to play it in his car? Is all of that really illegal in the US? I'm geuinely shocked. In fact I think I'll take this up on some other fora. |
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Here in Ireland (not known for its liberal laws) an unscientific sample of the CD's on my shelf shows that most of them refer to "unauthorised hiring" which to me implies that money changes hands. But that may just be my inexpert reading of the situation. |
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I remember being somewhat disturbed about the legalese on books whic said that it was (paraphrasing here) illegal to distrubte or otherwise pass on the book in any form of cover or binding that that in which it was published and without a similar condition being exposed on the subsequent owner. I recall someone pointing out in that discussion that it would be illegal to rip the pages out of your favourite book (which you own) and wallpapering your room in it. or at least it would be if you ever went on to sell your house. Or have someone visit. |
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And I really don't buy the argument that I have to pay €15 for a 20 year old album (if the label feels like making it available) or the industry will die. People have been sharing books for years and publishing is still a big business. People have the technology to photocopy books rather than buy them, but they don't. Why? Because the price of the book is right. It's generally cheaper to buy a book than it is to photocopy or print it. And that's still with everyone involved, the writer, the pblisher, the distributor, the retailer all getting their cut. CD prices are, simply, a ripoff. |
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//I am really suprised that in the US you need some permission to share your property// That is an interesting distinction - you own the physical medium (the CD) but not the music recorded on it - all you have bought is the right to play the music.
In France there is, (or at least there was until recently), a law relating to the resale of works of art - if the artist was alive, he/she got a cut. Now, obviously, this would be unworkable with the volume of art contained in recorded music, but to be fair to all artists, the same principle ought to apply. |
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//would if be illegal for my kid to pick it up and stick it into the stereo? Is that lending? Would it be different if he stuck it in portable player and took it out of the house? What if my brother wanted to play it in his car? Is all of that really illegal in the US?// |
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Obviously not, but none of the above is the mass distribution of a product for which the creator of that product isn't compensated. Just because you're using barter instead of cash, doesn't mean it's not stealing. Your compensation for making your collection available for copying is to have someone else's collection made available to you. |
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It's like trying to explain the difference between cutting off a child's allowance and cutting off his head to someone who doesn't see the difference. Where do you start? |
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If your boss came to you and said: "Money isn't cool anymore, so we're just exchanging our widgets for other company's gadgets and since money isn't part of the exchange, we're not paying you." you wouldn't be confused. |
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You seem like a bright person ChangeSomething, but you might want to re-think this one. |
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