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iTunes is Illegal Under UK Copyright Law


Blueeyiz702

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Blueeyiz702

Late last year the UK Government legalized copying for private use, a practice which many citizens already believed to be legal.
The UK Intellectual Property Office noted that the changes were “in the best interest” of consumers and that they would bring copyright law into the 21st century. 
However, the new regulation was short-lived. Fearing a loss of income several music groups objected at the High Court, which subsequently agreed that the new legislation is unlawful
As a result the changes were overturned last month and the previous limitations were reinstated. To find out what the public can and can’t do under the law, TF reached out to the UK Intellectual Property Office, which provided some very clear answers.
“It is now unlawful to make private copies of copyright works you own, without permission from the copyright holder – this includes format shifting from one medium to another,” a spokesperson informed us. 
The IPO specifically notes that copying a CD to an MP3 player is not permitted. This means that iTunes’ popular ripping feature, which Apple actively promotes during the software’s installation, is illegal. 
Also, under the current law iTunes is actively facilitating copyright infringement by promoting their CD-ripping functionality. This means that the company could face significant claims for damages.Apple’s iTunes installer offers ripping advice55c8a49433e56_iTunespromo.pngThere is more though, as the law affects much more than just ripping CDs. Simply copying a song in an automated computer backup or storing a copy on a private cloud hosting service is also against the law.

“…it includes creating back-ups without permission from the copyright holder as this necessarily involves an act of copying,” we were informed by the Government spokesperson.
Strictly speaking this means that UK citizens are not allowed to make a backup of their computer. After all, pretty much every computer contains copyrighted media. Needless to say, this turns almost the entire country into ‘outlaws’.
The Government is not happy with the High Court decision but it hasn’t decided whether it will propose revised private copying exceptions in the future. Copyright holders previously suggested allowing private copying in exchange for a tax on blank CDs and hard drives.
“As this is a complex area of law, the Government is carefully considering the implications of the ruling and the available options, before deciding any future course of action.”
As reassurance, the Government notes that that people shouldn’t be too concerned because copyright holders are not known to come after people who make a backup of their computers.
“The Government is not aware of any cases of copyright holders having prosecuted individuals for format shifting music solely for their own personal use,” the IPO spokesperson says.
However, copyright holders can take people to court over both CD-ripping and computer backups, if they want to. 

 

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Blueeyiz702

55c8a63d5a2e6_boxed.jpg

 Google Publishes Chrome Fix For Serious VPN Security Hole

 

As large numbers of Internet users wise up to seemingly endless online privacy issues, security products are increasingly being viewed as essential for even basic tasks such as web browsing.

In addition to regular anti-virus, firewall and ad-busting products, users wishing to go the extra mile often invest in a decent VPN service which allow them to hide their real IP addresses from the world. Well that’s the theory at least.
January this year details of a serious vulnerability revealed that in certain situations third parties were able to discover the real IP addresses of Chrome and Firefox users even though they were connected to a VPN. 
This wasn’t the fault of any VPN provider though. The problem was caused by features present in WebRTC, an open-source project supported by Google, Mozilla and Opera.
By placing a few lines of code on a website and using a STUN server it became possible to reveal not only users’ true IP addresses, but also their local network address too.
While users were immediately alerted to broad blocking techniques that could mitigate the problem, it’s taken many months for the first wave of ‘smart’ solutions to arrive.
Following on the heels of a Chrome fix published by Rentamob earlier this month which protects against VPN leaks while leaving WebRTC enabled, Google has now thrown its hat into the ring.
Titled ‘WebRTC Network Limiter‘, the tiny Chrome extension (just 7.31KB) disables the WebRTC multiple-routes option in Chrome’s privacy settings while configuring WebRTC not to use certain IP addresses.
In addition to hiding local IP addresses that are normally inaccessible to the public Internet (such as 192.168.1.1), the extension also stops other public IP addresses being revealed.
“Any public IP addresses associated with network interfaces that are not used for web traffic (e.g. an ISP-provided address, when browsing through a VPN) [are hidden],” Google says.
“Once the extension is installed, WebRTC will only use public IP addresses associated with the interface used for web traffic, typically the same addresses that are already provided to sites in browser HTTP requests.”
While both the Google and Rentamob solutions provide more elegant responses to the problem than previously available, both admit to having issues.
“Some WebRTC functions, like VOIP, may be affected by the multiple routes disabled setting. This is unavoidable,” Rentamob explains.
Google details similar problems, including issues directly linked to funneling traffic through a VPN.
“This extension may affect the performance of applications that use WebRTC for audio/video or real-time data communication. Because it limits the potential network paths, WebRTC may pick a path that results in significantly longer delay or lower quality (e.g. through a VPN). We are attempting to determine how common this is,” the company concludes.
After applying the blocks and fixes detailed above, Chrome users can check for IP address leaks by using sites includingIPLeak and BrowserLeaks.

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Koleckai Silvestri

Maybe the ripping functionality is but just buy a year of ITunes Match. Then all your music will be replaced with legal and valid copies. That is if you're worried. They'll never know you ripped from CDs.

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Blueeyiz702

Maybe the ripping functionality is but just buy a year of ITunes Match. Then all your music will be replaced with legal and valid copies. That is if you're worried. They'll never know you ripped from CDs.

btu if they catch you,i hear the penalty is stiff.but thats kinda crazy,what if you paid for music.

that should be considered yours and to do as you please.they got paid,so what few bucks will break apple.

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