copyright puzzle

[petermillard]

So as a hobby woodturner I can listen to what I like while I turn, but what if a mate later comes round and asks if he can buy one of my pieces of dubious quality. Should I then retrospectively apply for a license before I can sell him the lump?

Who knows? If you ask PRS then they'll almost certainly say yes, but as always if you keep quiet about it then nobody's any the wiser - unless you post about it on a public forum, of course.. #-o

So why is that some singer sings a song and then 'earns' every time the song is played for the next 70? years, without any further effort, yet some arguably more talented artist, eg one of the many talented craftsmen on here, can create a piece as a result of more effort, more training, more thought and yet get paid less in the first place and then never again. No wonder the gravy train industry is firing all barrels. :evil:

Maybe because the singers had better agents - much like the music publishers having better lawyers, and the actors with a better union?? Then again, artists (painters, sculptors etc...) tend to have pretty good agents, but somehow don't get a residual payment or royalty every time a piece is sold on...

I don't disagree with you, or with the idea of residual payments and royalties (and I do benefit from these in a very small way from my former career) - I just wish it could be applied to how we grind out a living today.

Cheers, Pete

 

[TrimTheKing]

I still reckon if you can listen to a dvd player at your friends house free of copyright you can listen to his wmp at his house even if you are doing it with that connection I originally posted. (using software that allows entry into his computer)

They didnt have that software when the copyright was written :wink:

Slice it whichever way you like, technically he is broadcasting it so it's illegal.

Whether you or I agree with it is irrelevant. If you are at his private residence to watch or listen with him then that is fine. As soon as he shares that media outside of that environment then he is broadcasting and is liable for royalties (and technically should have a broadcast license).

But as many have said, the laws are antiquated and still make the use of an iPod (a legal device to buy) illegal to use with ripped cd's. The only legal media you should use on a portable media player is legal downloads, and even these may be subject to specific listening rules.

And just to be clear, in your example DW, it's not copyright that's in question as you are not copying it, it's broadcast/licensing law.

Cheers
Mark

 

[wobblycogs]

The most ridiculous case I've heard of was a sole trader garage mechanic who listened to the radio while he worked. Because he occasionally had customers in his workshop (while he showed them what was wrong with the car) the PRS took him to court for being unlicensed.

As I understand it things we (well, you guys at least) make are covered by copyright law since it extends to design as well. Having said that you would have a hard job enforcing it as the barrier for uniqueness in this area is generally set very high. I remember seeing an example of a T-Shirt that Nike or some other large manufacturer wanted to protect the design of. In an effort to try and protect it they made one of every colour you could imagine and registered them - they still failed as the design was deemed not unique enough (can't seem to find the link at the moment).

I would imagine something along the lines of a Binh Pho creation http://www.wondersofwood.net/ would fall under copyright but that would only stop you from making a pretty much exact copy. Making something in the same style would be allowed. A classic example of this is MS Windows which early on was a blatant copy of the ideas and design of the Apple user interface but Apple couldn't make it stick in court http://lowendmac.com/orchard/06/apple-vs-microsoft.html.

 

[bosshogg]

So HC if I park outside your registered premises and connect to your wifi router with my laptop [with my pirated hacking software] should I report you for broadcasting copyrighted materials?

Care to spell out the hacking software you use?

 

[monkeybiter]

So HC if I park outside your registered premises and connect to your wifi router with my laptop [with my pirated hacking software] should I report you for broadcasting copyrighted materials?

Care to spell out the hacking software you use?

:shock: Err... Just a joke Guvner!, honest.

Actually I haven't looked for it but I bet you could very quickly and easily download and set-up quite a capable hacking kit. The biggest security risk to any system is the installer/operators being complacent/ignorant.

 

[wobblycogs]

A quick googling turns up about 60 different tools you could use to try and gain access to a wireless network. Probably worth saying that if you wireless is set to use WEP security it isn't terribly secure there are several well know weaknesses that can be fairly easily exploited. If you are using WPA / WPA2 you are for the most part secure as long as you don't have an easy to guess password (e.g. a dictionary word). Finally, if your wireless access point has WPS functionality (a lot of recent ones do) it should be turned off if possible as there is fairly serious known weakness in it.

Personally though I just don't worry about it. Your chance of getting hacked this way is pretty small, I've not caught anyone even trying in 6 years. My web server on the other hand gets intrusion attempts fairly regularly.

 

[devonwoody]

Trim the King,

I thought I was not in breach of copyright. However broadcasting license is not a field I intended to discuss, although I was not broadcasting of course. :wink: I was listening to a broadcast. The broadcaster did not intend me to to listen either we were doing other things. :wink:

 

[monkeybiter]

Trim the King,

I thought I was not in breach of copyright. However broadcasting license is not a field I intended to discuss, although I was not broadcasting of course. :wink: I was listening to a broadcast. The broadcaster did not intend me to to listen either we were doing other things. :wink:

Incidentally DW how do you stand regarding your recent foray into musical performance on youtube? Is the work out of copyright?

 

[devonwoody]

I'm obviously a legend.

I reckon its pre 1935 so I should be alright.

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

So HC if I park outside your registered premises and connect to your wifi router with my laptop [with my pirated hacking software] should I report you for broadcasting copyrighted materials?

Care to spell out the hacking software you use?

:shock: Err... Just a joke Guvner!, honest.

Actually I haven't looked for it but I bet you could very quickly and easily download and set-up quite a capable hacking kit. The biggest security risk to any system is the installer/operators being complacent/ignorant.

You can get them and they do work (not used one officer) however there is a way to stop them dead using a MAC filter. Most routers have them and basically you only allow devices to connect to the router which have a MAC address you have put in the allowed list (every device/pc/laptop/modem etc has its own unique MAC address).

Then again if your using WiFi the hacker can wait till your using a wireless device on the network, find the MAC address and clone it on his machine and again access that way.

No im not hacker! (hammer)

 

[monkeybiter]

So is that how MAC spoofing works? They look for an existing 'in use' address?

I'm interested because I've got got my MAC filter turned on, use WPA and don't broadcast my SSID, but you can never be sure.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Not broadcasting your SSID is useless for anything other than stopping people easily seeing your wireless LAN.

The first thing that one of your 'allowed' machines does when you fire it up is look for its known SSIDs and authenticate to them/it, sending that SSID in clear text in the process.

So if a hardcore hacker really wanted to he would just listen to all your traffic until he saw a new machine being turned on them he would have all the info he needed.

All hiding the SSID really does is stop your average neighbour from knowing that your wifi is turned on. But if a hacker knows its there then he'll just wait and listen.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

So is that how MAC spoofing works? They look for an existing 'in use' address?

I'm interested because I've got got my MAC filter turned on, use WPA and don't broadcast my SSID, but you can never be sure.

The only thing you can be 100% sure on is that nothing is 100% secure. They will always find a new way.

Yes MAC spoofing is basically changing the factory set MAC address on a device or masking with a new MAC address.