Thank you FOX - you saved me a lot of money

[sj001]

Originally Posted by Banjo

If you own a copy of the movie. You are legally entitled to make a back-up copy for your own personal uses. It is not theft because there is no loss in the process. You are only protecting what you bought by making a copy of it in case something happens to the original copy.

If you think otherwise, then you should stop watching movies whenever your friends or family members are in your presence because the movie studios aren't making any money off them. The sames applies to lending movies.

Sounds ridiculous? Well, that's because it is!

The only thing in process of making a back-up copy that is "illegal" is that you are breaking the law by decrypting a encrypted property.

What I'm saying is, consumers shouldn't be held accountable for making backup copies of the movies they bought. It's the thieves who re-distribute movies to the public without authorization that should be held accountable because they are the ones who are taking the profits away from the movie studios.

When you buy a movie, you automatically agree that you will use it for privates uses only meaning you will play it in your household or other private households, nowhere else. Not even in a school classroom which is considered a copyright infringement.

It's only the encryption that is illegal to break through. So it's a gray area for the consumers. The encryption is meant to prevent piracy. There's a difference between piracy and back-ups.

Very true indeed, but really, how many people actually backup these discs legitimately and not for pirating reasons? Probably very, very few...

[Banjo]

Originally Posted by sj001

Very true indeed, but really, how many people actually backup these discs legitimately and not for pirating reasons? Probably very, very few...

Perhaps, but let's remember that it's just an assumption. This kind of argument won't hold water in a courtroom.

Consumers have rights, so do the copyright holders. It's the pirates that are violating the copyright holders' rights. In the end, some people want both consumers and pirates to be held accountable which isn't right.

Basically, it's similar to the concept of group punishment.

[bootman]

Originally Posted by sj001

Very true indeed, but really, how many people actually backup these discs legitimately and not for pirating reasons? Probably very, very few...

You must not have kids!

I used to do this to take DVDs in the SUV I no longer own.

But to do this to protect disks from scratching that has already a great protection barrier is not doing your homework about the format.

However, having a HD movie server does sound like a cool idea.
A HTPC running something like LinuxMCE and reading HD isos (currently only DVDs are supported) sounds very tempting.
Lots of space needed for HD movies though.