OK folks, the damage or otherwise caused by piracy is an old argument and not one that's going to be settled here.
Pop
What people DO do though is make copies of rented DVD's which is a grey area I am told. In that it is for your own personal use and thus accepted as is copying CD's, audio tapes and VCR tapes 'for personal use only.' However, I cannot claim to be 100% certain of the legalities.
But..............and I am sure of this..........PPRuNe must never be used for the purpose of advising others how to make a copy from a DVD, or anything else for that matter, for anyone other than yourself.
I'd agree, but it's not as if there's a legal difference. In the UK, when it comes to film or music all you own is the physical medium. When you buy a DVD, you have a licence to view the specific content on a specific instance of a specific format - the film concerned, on that specific DVD, and nothing else. There is no right to copy material for 'personal use only' (there is a right for 'personal study', but that's different) so legally you cannot copy a CD you own to tape so that you can listen to it in the car.
People can claim copying for personal use is 'fair use' (a common law defence which, as I understand it, hasn't existed in the UK since it was replaced with the statutory defence of 'fair dealing' 80-odd years ago), but it's not a legal defence. Of course, your chances of being prosecuted for copying a CD for personal use are minimal, so that's a decision for you to take.
As for this forum, the instructions for copying your DVD for personal use are no different for the instructions for copying a friend's copy of a DVD. Likewise, I can't ban any mention of Kazaa or discussion of how to rip a CD to MP3. It's a grey area, and I'll deal with it as best I can, but it's not quite as simple as saying "PPRuNe will not be used for...".