Say you bought a CD and you wanted to create a digital version for home use, so you rip the CD and store it on an MP3 player. You then copy the ripped music into your external hard drive to backup in case something goes wrong. This sounds like something a lot of us are doing or have done in the past.However if you are living in the UK and you are doing that, you are essentially committing a crime. According to a new ruling in the UK, it has been made illegal for anyone to rip a CD onto their computer. In a statement the UK Intellectual Property Office made to TorrentFreak, “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.”
Based on that wording, it essentially means that you can’t even copy your music from your hard drive to an external hard drive or onto another device like your MP3 player or smartphone. This was clarified by a spokesperson who added, “…it includes creating back-ups without permission from the copyright holder as this necessarily involves an act of copying.”
This actually goes against the UK Government’s legalization of copy music for private use last year. In fact at that time, the UK Intellectual Property Office appeared to be on board with the ruling, claiming it was done in the best interest of consumers, but it seems that due to a fear of loss of income by several music groups, the decision has been overturned.
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