UK Government to legalise copying media for personal use

The UK copyright law will undergo an update on June 1 when the Government makes it legal to copy media, including CDs, for personal use.

It is currently illegal to copy content from CDs onto devices like MP3 players and iPods. The maximum penalty for doing so is five years of jail time and a $250,000 fine.

Announcing the law revision online alongside a guide for consumers, the UK Government’s Intellectual Property Office says, “You will be permitted to make personal copies to any device that you own, or a personal online storage medium, such as a private cloud. However, it will be illegal to give other people access to the copies you have made, including, for example, by allowing a friend to access your personal cloud storage.

The update for the digital age comes in eight years after a similar legislation passed in Australia. 2006 was the same year the UK’s National Consumer Council carried out a survey which indicated over half of British adults infringe copyright law by copying music CDs. 59% of those surveyed said they thought copying for personal use was legal (BBC).

While the changes have been made to benefit consumers and rationalise copyright, Torrentfreak have reported the update will increase revenue for the technology sector by £31 million per year. Technology firms will benefit as the measure removes barriers which prevent consumers being able to make private copies, therefore increasing sales of technology and media used to do so.

The Government says it’s still illegal to make copies at home for friends and family but consumers are now allowed to store copies of music they own in the cloud, as long as you’re the only one with access.

The Australian law states that although we can copy recordings from our CDs onto our iPod or MP3 players, we cannot share private copies online.

According to the ARIA website,”Uploading or distributing music via the Internet without permission from the copyright owner will infringe copyright.”