It seems so. For years we common folk have been copying music privately for personal use – from putting LPs onto tapes to putting our CDs onto iPods, all so we can listen to what we think we own instead of having to pay for the same thing two or three times over. This seemingly reasonable act is, under current UK law, a criminal activity. But it seems that is set to change. Following the Gowers Review, the government has been considering various potential tweaks and changes to the law, and today they responded to a related petition on their new E-Petitions site. They are “currently considering how such an exception should be created in UK law” and their whole (if brief) response can be found here. I will watch with interest how this small victory plays out, and wonder what others we may see.
