Is it illegal for me to rip a DVD that I own?

S

Spideyfan

New member
I'm in college and I want to watch the movies I bought on areas throughout the campus (econ class jk). So I tried the Digital Copy thing, it worked for some, but for like 8 of the movies all the codes expired or the company didn't carry the digital copy anymore. Now my friend wants me to rip them because he says that it's legal and I'm really cautious about this stuff. Is it safe to rip DVD's that I own?
I am not handing it out or anything, it is strictly for my own use.
And also, I just want to watch it on my laptop, I don't want another physical copy if that makes sense.
 
C

Cosplay

New member
U can copy it for urself if u own it but yes, it is illegal to rip and hand out even for free. Though it is illegal, its for education purpose it seems so don't worry so much. Ull be ok.
 
B

blade

Member
It should be alright. I rip songs from my CDs, and I've never ran into any trouble. Just don't put them up for download.
 
L

Leggs

New member
Unless it expressly states somewhere on the package that it is illegal to copy the DVD. Then yes you can, you paid for it.Oh also if when you watch the movie at the very beginning it should give you a warning about making copies.
 
M

MichaelJ

Member
Actually, it depends. In general, the legality of ripping CD's and DVD's is not well established, and well-paid lawyers from entertainment companies can and do argue that the ripping itself creates an unauthorized copy.

However, it gets worse.

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it is (criminally!) *illegal* to circumvent technological measures that are designed to enforce copyright, even if it is otherwise legal for you to access the protected content. Pretty much any commercially produced DVD is encrypted with something called the Content Scrambling System. Now, CSS is really god-awful encryption. However, it might be illegal for me to tell you that there are programs available that break it without a sweat. And it might also be illegal for me to tell you where to get them. And, of course, ripping a DVD to your computer requires that you be able to break that encryption. Which is illegal.

Don't blame me. Blame your Congresscritters.
 
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