When Copying a Purchased CD Becomes a Crime

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I came across the article above last week and couldn’t believe what I was reading. The RIAA is now saying that even though you purchase a CD you do not have the rights to rip the CD to your computer.

I’m confused. I was under the impression that if you bought a CD you had bought the right to rip it so that you can listen to the music in other media formats. Now this is not the case? There has to be a point when you have paid for the rights to enjoy a song. And exactly what does this do for education and digital storytelling. It has been my policy to show students and teachers how to rip a song down to computer format so they can include 30 seconds of it into a digital story. Copyright laws allow for such a use as long as it is for the purpose of education. How will this affect education if this act is passed?

I would hope that I am not the only educator upset by this proposed Act. Unfortunately, until we make a stand as a group of individuals the RIAA will keep violating our rights.