At some point you would think that these industries would get a clue. The billions they spend trying to shut down copyright abuses does NOT return to them in increased revenues. If you make it a crime for teenage Cindy Sue to download a Shakira mp3 that DOES NOT mean that she is going to then go out and buy Shakira's album. Or take someone like a good friend of mines brother in law. I garantee you he isnt going to stop copying DVD's he gets from netflix just because this law has passed. sure in the end he has to understand that he is running the risk of going to prison for theft..but he (and most others) are not going to think that is ever going to happen to them. These laws and the enforcment of them (which is impossible in anything other then the most arbitrary methods) dont increase the sales of these companies...its already stealing now..why would making it "worse stealing" stop them moving forward. The industries would I think better serve their share holders by not spending all the dollars in litigation and lobbying to stop something that just flat out isnt going to stop.
Especially since copying dvd's and cd's you own is already allowable under fair use..once they can do it for themselves its already a lost battle. Its like passing a law in 1980 saying its illegal to record a song on the radio to a cassette tape. How on earth is it every going to be enforcable. It isnt..and that makes the legislation stupid irresponsible and a waste of taxpayer dollars.
It bothers me more that I don't know who Shakira is, and less that I don't care - when they bring back music, maybe I'll risk breaking the law, too.
Sadly, that is not true for DVDs. A number of courts have ruled, and been upheld, that you can not use the technology that copies DVDs. True, they haven't actually said that copying the DVD is illegal (thus maintaining fair use standards). But they have ruled that it is illegal to use the technology that does the copying, if it is a copy protected disk. Which in essence means that it is illegal to copy a commercial DVD.
You're right, re the technology running way out ahead of the laws. The only thing that will really keep people from stealing digital material--and that's what they're doing, stealing--is what's missing more and more every day: an understanding of what's right and what's wrong.
Unfortunately, most people come down squarely on the scumbag side, like your brother-ibn-law's friend. They think that, since they PAID FOR the technology that allows them to steal, they're somehow justified. There are no perfect comparisons, but that's a little like saying, I bought and paid for this flatbed hauler, so it's okay if I load someone's Audi A4 onto it and drive away with it.