Itunes Illegal in England?

Have you ever copied music from iTunes to your computer and saved it onto a blank disc or a thumb drive? Well, if you live in England, some complicated legislation might have just made this illegal. According to Torrent Freak:

Late last year the UK Government legalized copying for private use, a practice which many citizens already believed to be legal.

However, until last October, anyone who transferred music from a purchased CD to an MP3 player was committing an offense.

The change was “in the best interest” of consumers, the Government reasoned, but several music industry organizations disagreed.

In November the Musicians’ Union (MU), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and UK Music applied for a judicial review of the new legislation.

While the groups are not against private copying exceptions, they disagreed with the Government’s conclusion that the change would cause no financial harm to the music industry.

Instead of keeping copies free, they suggested that a tax should be applied to blank media including blank CDs, hard drives, memory sticks and other blank media. This money would then be shared among rightsholders, a mechanism already operating in other European countries.

Today the High Court largely agreed with the music industry groups. The Government’s conclusion that copyright holders will not suffer any significant harm was based on inadequate evidence, Mr Justice Green ruled.

“In conclusion, the decision to introduce section 28B [private copying] in the absence of a compensation mechanism is unlawful,” the Judge writes.

Do you think legislation like this is protecting artists or just unnecessarily adding more complicated laws to the books?

Source: Torrent Freak