Lately, I have seen a lot of articles on copyright disputes, including companies going after the individuals that download music, video or software. Is this the way copyright enforcement should be handled? Or should these companies look at the current outdated laws and update them for today's technology and standards? While there are those who will always break the law and steal these types of media, there are also those who obtain media through non-legitimate sources due to flaws in the current copyright laws that do not fulfill consumer expectations.
Let's look at one pertinent example. The current copyright laws do not allow legitimate purchasers of media to make back up copies of their media. This is a huge flaw in the law. Let's say I purchase a book. The current laws were actually written for this type of media. The law does not allow me to make a copy of the book, however this is not a huge issue like it is with digital media. If I rip the page of a book, a little transparent tape and the book is once again readable. If I spill liquid on the book, a little time under a hair dryer, and again the book is readable. A broken binding, white glue. You can see my point. About the only thing that would make a book unusable is fire. However, in the case of CDs and DVDs, one little scratch in the wrong place and it is trash. Accidentally step on a CD or DVD and you here that dreaded crack sound and it's all over (those of you with kids know exactly what am talking about). I can stand on a book all day long and still read it that night. For this reason, copyright laws should allow legitimate purchasers that right to make unlimited backup copies for personal use. A code can be given to the user when they purchase digital media, in the same way that software requires a CD Key to install, that would allow unlimited copies by the purchaser. Then the companies who develop the media should focus their enforcement on those individuals who deliver this media to the internet for download. It's not hard to find who is delivering the media illegally. A couple of searches in any search engine and you can see what sites are delivering the media.
The other option is for the law to force companies to do the right thing, which is to provide replacement media for damaged media at no cost or for the cost of shipping, which in most cases would be a fraction of the original cost of the media. Most legitimate purchases are not going to feel good about purchasing the same music CD, software product or movie DVD twice due to a damaged disk.
Have you ever tried to return a CD or DVD that you opened that would not work right out of the box? Basically, if this happens to you, you have no recourse. Most businesses will not let you return the product for a refund and some will not even let you return it for an exchange. If this was any other purchase except digital media and the business sold you a product that did not work, you would have legal recourse against the business. Apparently not so with digital media as I found out once when I bought a movie DVD that was blank and the store refused to exchange it because it was opened. Well I don't know about you, but without Superman's powers, I have to open the box and try the DVD to see if it works. This is just wrong!
Loosening the 'personal use' clauses in copyright laws is one way to reduce piracy. Let's face it, piracy will never be completely eliminated unless our society moves past the use of money and everything is free (a Star Trek scenario), but the current copyright laws help to turn legitimate purchasers into potential copyright violators at least once in their lives.
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