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We're all criminals now.
It seems that Sony has changed it's position on copying music:
Pariser [head of litigation for Sony BMG] has a very broad definition of "stealing." When questioned by Richard Gabriel, lead counsel for the record labels, Pariser suggested that what millions of music fans do is actually theft. The dirty deed? Ripping your own CDs or downloading songs you already own.Gabriel asked if it was wrong for consumers to make copies of music which they have purchased, even just one copy. Pariser replied, "When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." Making "a copy" of a purchased song is just "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'," she said.
That makes me a criminal, even though though I ripped the CDs I had purchased and put them away in a box, never to be used again.That probably makes every iPod owner a criminal as well even though they, like me, legally purchased the music they are listening to.
Of course that stands in direct contradiction to what they told the Supreme Court not so long ago:
MR. VERRILLI: I disagree with that, Your Honor. Certainly not — I don't think there's any empirical evidence to suggest, with respect to any of the things that Your Honor just identified — and let me pick out the iPod as one, because it's the most current example, I guess. From the moment that device was introduced, it was obvious that there were very significant lawful commercial uses for it. And let me clarify something I think is unclear from the amicus briefs. The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their Website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod. There is a very, very significant lawful commercial use for that device, going forward. [emphasis mine]
It's nice to know that Sony's lawyers are so... flexible.
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