[MPlayer-users] Re: Rescuing a scratched DVD

[D Richard Felker III]

On Mon, Dec 08, 2003 at 01:28:17PM +1000, Adam Nielsen wrote:
> [Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
> > Now that Magnus has mentioned rental.... If you have a DVD go bad and
> > want to recover it, why not just go rent it and make a copy from the
> > rental version? Then you pay something like $3-4 for a new copy rather
> > than $20. Will that make you happy?
> 
> No, because that's illegal.  Even though you already own it, it's illegal to 
> 'back up' a DVD.  Apparently you can even get in trouble for just 
> *downloading* software to do it (though I've yet to see that happen.)  But 
> that was my point originally too - if you were allowed to copy it for 
> personal use, then there'd be no problem.  But since the recording industry 
> has made it illegal, they'll have to take over and provide legitimate backups 
> for people who don't want to break the law by making their own.

It is not illegal, nor have they "made it illegal". In fact, copying a
DVD does not require nor benefit from DeCSS. Only playing it does.

Backing up a DVD you already have is perfectly legal, and since there
is no way, after the fact, to determine whether your backup was made
from your original before it was damaged, or from a rental copy after
your original was damaged, it follows that making the backup from the
rental copy is just as legal.

(If cursing is illegal and you say a curse word in a forest and no one
hears, are you guilty? No. Same deal here.)

Rich