MP3's - the legalities

[Andrew_C]

Article 3 Offences

 

Member States shall ensure that all intentional infringements of an intellectual property right on a commercial scale, and attempting, aiding or abetting and inciting such infringements, are treated as criminal offences.

My bold. So that's that, not a CRIMINAL issue at all. Civil it stays, as ever. (In this case! IANAL etc)

[Geoff]

What constitutes a 'commercial scale' is undefined in the directive. So no, no get out of jail free card there.

[webman]

In this instance, commercial = for profit?

[Geoff]

I guess we'll find out in court. Hopefully the UK amendment to the copyright act that implements this directive will clarify the situation. I suggest you write to your MP.

[enjay]

Leaving the legal debate where it is for a moment, let me ask this. Even after you've convinced yourself that deleting all MP3s is the correct thing to do, and all your teaching staff are happy with the impact which this will have on their teaching, how do you actually enforce this?

 

It will take your students a matter of days to realise that renaming their MP3 files to .doc when they don't need them will make them invisible to your scans.

[mrforgetful]

Or just restoring them from Shadow Copies.

[Geoff]

If they want to play hardball, so can I, I'd resort to using Linux. Something along the lines of:

 

find /mnt/ZETHUS/home -name * -print | xargs file | grep MPEG.*layer.III | cut -d: -s -f1 | rm -rf

 

Running this overnight is probably a good plan. As is replacing the 'rm -rf' with a redirect to a text file for doing a dry run.

[GrumbleDook]

Leaving the legal debate where it is for a moment, let me ask this. Even after you've convinced yourself that deleting all MP3s is the correct thing to do, and all your teaching staff are happy with the impact which this will have on their teaching, how do you actually enforce this?

 

It will take your students a matter of days to realise that renaming their MP3 files to .doc when they don't need them will make them invisible to your scans.

 

Actions to take -

 

1 : Scan by folder size. Any students with folders over a certain size get flagged to be looked at.

 

2 : Average size of files in folders (I am sure it was MR Rochford that talked about a script for this a few years ago on a certain newsgroup, but can't find a link) and anything where all the files average around 4MB is likely to be an album.

 

3 : Remove CD drives from computers. If they cannot rip CDs easily it helps to stop them bringing them in.

 

4 : File control using Server 2003 R2. Ban MP3s. Even if they change them back you lock them out so they can't be used ... there are commercial applications that will do this is a nastier way.

 

5 : Classroom Management. If they have headphones on in a classroom but no MP3 player in their pocket, and they are listening to music ... they are either nabbing all the bandwidth listening to an online radio station (block it asap) or they are listening to music held on their home area.

 

6 : Make examples of students. Embarrass them in assemblies ... "And we would like to thank the student in Year 10 who put their whole collection of the Bee Gees on the file server. It was very kind of them but we have had to delete it in compliance with the latest EU laws about music taste. following from that I want to see Peter Person after assembly ... we also draw the line a Rod Stewart!"

 

I do think that number 5 is the most important ... technology is not always the answer ... gottingothers to do the legwork is often best!

[GrumbleDook]

In this instance, commercial = for profit?

 

Commercial = used for gain without recompense to the rights holders.

 

The gain in the case of schools is argued as the savings of monies (you should buy the number of copies of the CD you want to use) or the effect it has on the students with regards to attainment, achievement or engagement (from a friend at the performing rights society).

[enjay]

1 : Scan by folder size. Any students with folders over a certain size get flagged to be looked at.

You have more time on your hands than I do, obviously. I check people's areas when they ask for more space, but that's about it. We do occasionally spot-check the home areas or scan and see which ones are huge, but very rarely to be honest.

 

3 : Remove CD drives from computers. If they cannot rip CDs easily it helps to stop them bringing them in.

Done that, but more for cost / need reasons.

 

5 : Classroom Management. If they have headphones on in a classroom...

Yeah, we often do that although some teachers let students to listen to Internet radio while working.

[Andrew_C]

In this instance, commercial = for profit?

Commercial = used for gain without recompense to the rights holders.

To me, "commercial scale" would indicate a deliberate attempt to make significant profit from the theft. Doing a copy for a mate? OK; Copying to a mediaPC at home? OK; Taking your music collection to school? Ok; Selling copies at a boot sale/behind the bike sheds? 5-10 years of not-bending-to-pick-up-the-soap. Fine by me.

 

It reads to me as if SOME common sense is finally being applied.

[Geoff]

Common Sense does not apply. Until this is tested in court (or the UK Act of Parliament clarify s the situation) all bets are off. You can make as many educated guesses as you like and they are all null and void.

[wil0]

I guess we'll find out in court. Hopefully the UK amendment to the copyright act that implements this directive will clarify the situation. I suggest you write to your MP.

 

The music being present on your servers provides no real legal threat, its "illigal" but like everyone says the copyright laws are outdated and even the legal system knows this. I would be suprised if they could even bring a charge against you, that would stand up in court.

 

Facilitating copyright infringement is a Criminal offense in the EU now due to the IPRED2 directive.

 

Article 3 Offences

 

Member States shall ensure that all intentional infringements of an intellectual property right on a commercial scale, and attempting, aiding or abetting and inciting such infringements, are treated as criminal offences.

 

http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ipred2/

 

I guess i should be locked up then.

 

I think maybe those two thousand hours (96.7 days) playing WoW have warped your mind.

check out this story of how WoW ruined this mans life.

http://soulkerfuffle.blogspot.com/2006/10/view-from-top.html

sad thing is its real.

[Geoff]

I think maybe those two thousand hours (96.7 days) playing WoW have warped your mind.

 

Ad hominem and off topic. Impressive.