what happened to the dvd ripping forums

[uufta]

I'm guessing the **** means CLAP. Or maybe LOVE.

bigpimpin_1978, you've been banned for being a complete ****

[blutach]

Well, somebody's got the clap!

Regards

[soup]

I don't know, I wasn't feeling the love for it to be clap or love.

[MikeyBK]

To all those who posted the FAQ's and tutorials in the past, a hearty "Thank You!". I just skimmed over the posts and I see a lot of disappointed people but not much acknowledgement over the loss of a lot of people's hard work, done on their own time, and without payment, going down the drain. I wish you all well in the future and hope to see a day when those valuable deleted items will be returned to the benefit of all who care to learn.

This is also something that saddens me...all the hard work people put into guides, and program plugins, are all swept away...I used to suggest some of the guides from here, but now cannot.

It breaks my heart to see the once prominent DVF reduced to a shadow of it's former self. You know, the one that use to challenge forums like CDF on the correct info on certain knowledgeable things.
I still log on from time to time out of loyalty, but I see the decline in those who log on. Many, if not most, of the regular members hardly log on anymore. It's just not the same caliber that it used to be. I hope that some day this forum will return to it's 'Glory Days'...

It is not against the law to create copies of our purchased DVDs so that we can protect our investment, it is just illegal to copy them for the purpose of distributing them for profit or not ,or playing them in public for a fee.
And it surely is not illegal to merely discuss these things!!

Anyways, that's my feelings.....but in the end it is Admins site and he is under no obligation to all those who had put in so much time and effort to build up this forum to the caliber that it had attained...he needs to think of his and his forums survival, the best he knows how to...

[Chewy]

let me explain the law a little, the software that circumvents the protection is what is illegal, supporting it in a forum has become an accessory to this

it's all relative to which countries laws come into effect

It is not against the law to create copies of our purchased DVDs so that we can protect our investment

that's the catch 22, backing up your dvd's might be legal under "fair use" but the software isn't

[MikeyBK]

let me explain the law a little, the software that circumvents the protection is what is illegal, supporting it in a forum has become an accessory to this

it's all relative to which countries laws come into effect

I was not aware of a law that stated that by-passing the movie indurtries encryption 'schemes' were illegal??

[NightTran]

let me explain the law a little, the software that circumvents the protection is what is illegal, supporting it in a forum has become an accessory to this

it's all relative to which countries laws come into effect



that's the catch 22, backing up your dvd's might be legal under "fair use" but the software isn't

is there any software that consider legal at all?

Thanks

[Chewy]

we have even implemented internation treaties

Laws regarding DRM
Digital rights management systems have received some international legal backing by implementation of the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT). Article 11 of the Treaty requires nations party to the treaties to enact laws against DRM circumvention.

The WCT has been implemented in most member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The American implementation is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), while in Europe the treaty has been implemented by the 2001 European directive on copyright, which requires member states of the European Union to implement legal protections for technological prevention measures. In 2006, the lower house of the French parliament adopted such legislation as part of the controversial DADVSI law, but added that protected DRM techniques should be made interoperable, a move which caused widespread controversy in the United States

Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is an extension to United States copyright law passed unanimously on May 14, 1998, which criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology that allows users to circumvent technical copy-restriction methods. Under the Act, circumvention of a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work is illegal if done with the primary intent of violating the rights of copyright holders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

[MikeyBK]

So then, all copying and authoring programs must also be considered illegal if it has anything to do with DVD content??...Including DVDFlick?

What about the First Amendment rights to fair use?

At least we can discuss this....no?

[MikeyBK]

also...

if done with the primary intent of violating the rights of copyright holders.

If it is done to violate the copyright holders rights...which means copying and distributing them to deny the copyright holders ability to sell their content to as many consumers as possible if not for these illegally distributed copies...

Just wondering if thats the meaning that was actually conveyed?? What do you think?

[Chewy]

dvd flick does not circumvent any protection, it's perfectly legal

fair use has been effectively killed

[MikeyBK]

fair use has been effectively killed

LOL

But if we cannot by-pass CSS on DVDs, how can we use something like DVDFlick, how are we to get the DVDs contemt onto the PC?


But what about this? 'If' is a strong if...IMHO...

also...



If it is done to violate the copyright holders rights...which means copying and distributing them to deny the copyright holders ability to sell their content to as many consumers as possible if not for these illegally distributed copies...

Just wondering if thats the meaning that was actually conveyed?? What do you think?

[admin]

Any tool that circumvents copy protection is illegal under the DMCA, regardless of how effective the copy protection is (although some countries do require "effective" copy protection for the law to apply) or whether you use it for commercial gain or not. The DMCA is very clear on this, all you need to do is the try and break digital copy protection, and you are in violation and could be subject to a fine (if you are in the US, of course, but most countries have similar laws now, including most of Europe and Australia).

There is the fair use laws in the US, that really conflicts with the DMCA, but DMCA has more money behind it and so it wins (and some countries like Australia do not even have fair use laws). Unless something major happens and the trend reverses, you will see a lot more sites start removing content from their websites (Afterdawn, for example, removed ripper downloads back in 2006).

DVD editing/authoring tools are fine, but as long as they only edit non protected stuff. That's why tools like DVD Rebuilder, DVD2one, Nero Recode do not have rippers in them, and why DVD Shrink is a no go (has built in ripper, and as I've explained numerous times, it's association with RipIt4Me has sent it down). Not sure why you are concentrating on DVD Flick - DVD Flick's main purpose is to turn AVI files into DVDs, not to re-edit existing DVDs (there are better tools like DVD Rebuilder or Nero Recode for that). Just like the DMCA is very clear, it is also very clear what it does not cover, and that's anything you do with the material after it has been ripped (as long as it does not break any other copyright laws, for example, as long as you don't distribute it).

In other words, most of you have been sold out by your politicians when it comes to your own rights. It's too late to do anything about it, and even if it's not too late, it's too expensive to fight Hollywood, who spends millions on lobbying in Washington DC (and other capitals around the world, take a look at what happened to Canada recently for example).

While the DMCA is one thing, remember that the first CSS case centered not on the DMCA, but rather, reverse engineering/breaking of trade secrets. This is one of the many avenues in which companies can sue when the DMCA does not apply - break our copyright protection engine, you have used our product in a unlicensed way, you cause us to lose money => lawsuit. I can't say what has happened on Digital Digest, but there's more information available on this case if you do a search or have a look at Doom9 and other places.

[admin]

And I would just like to say again, some people seem to think that I made a conscious decision to remove certain stuff from the forum under no pressure from anywhere else and that somehow I can bring that all back just by choosing to do it. Some other sites choose to remove certain stuff to *avoid* a problem, I removed stuff because the problem was already here.

I can certainly choose to bring back all the content, but a few days or weeks later, I will have to close down the entire site and then probably go bankrupt in the process. Is that what you really want me to do, just so you can look at some articles that many other sites already cover?

[blutach]

As I said a few years ago on this forum, Fair Use has a very bloody nose at the hands of the DMCA and it's only getting bloodier.

I suspect consumers whose DVDs can't play (eg damaged disks) are SOL legally-speaking. What's bad is that the DVD may not be in stock when they need a replacement. Yes, a backup strategy is the logical way to go. But, strangely enough, this is unlawful in many jurisdictions.

Conversely, it is not the fault of the retailer/distributor/studio if a disk is damaged by your (grand)kids or otherwise by you. There is no right of replacement in these cases and nor would you expect there to be. However, if a disk just "goes bad" within a normal warranty period, it should be replaced under fair trading laws. How easy it is to get your disk replaced is another thing. Again, having a lawful backup would seem the easy answer but politics and business dictate that consumers come last.

Yet the consumer has the power, believe it or not. It is you who has the power to buy or not buy a DVD. If you're worried about disks going west, rent them instead. Eventually, messages get thru in sales numbers.

As for copy control technology, I am sure that many companies see decrypters as directly affecting their business units. Companies like Macrovision and SONY DADC derive revenue from selling their technology to smaller production houses, who are eager to protect their digital material since pirating would severely affect these houses' profits. So decrypters affect not only these technology companies but the small production houses, too.

And to MikeyBK, we may have changed, but hopefully, are not out for the count quite yet. I very much share your wish that some of the material can be restored in time, while not causing issue to any company who has legitimate concerns regarding ripping.

Regards