Craig Grannell

In space year 2026, it is *still* illegal to rip a CD you bought with your own money to play the resulting MP3s (or whatever) on your computer. That is not considered fair use.

But if the UK government gets its way (and it will – it has a massive majority, despite winning only a third of the popular vote), AI companies eating all of our creative work for free, forever, soon will be.

Fuck off, Labour.

EDIT: Reports in progress. Direction of travel has long been clear. https://bsky.app/profile/ednewtonrex.bsky.social/post/3mg3lu7njoc25

Ed Newton-Rex (@ednewtonrex.bsky.social)

🚨 It looks like the UK government is gearing up to upend copyright law in favour of AI companies, legalising the theft of their work. This is despite creatives' huge protests, and despite previous proposals being roundly rejected by the public. Please spread the word. 🧵 1/4

Bluesky Social
Mar 2 at 4:30pmWeb
Show threadjtonlineMar 2
@craiggrannell I'm not ripping CDs your honour,— I'm training AI.
Show threadWiredfireMar 2
@jtonline @craiggrannell what’s it called? ChatMP3
Show threadjtonlineMar 2
@wiredfire @craiggrannell lol, very good! 😁
Show threadEQMar 2
@craiggrannell This usage is legal in Sweden due to a tax we pay on all storage media including phones. Sucks if only doing backups of your vacation images 😆
Show threadEleanor LNR BlairMar 2
@craiggrannell It's funny really - I'm surprisingly strict with myself and not pirating stuff, waiting for things to be available on a platform I have access to. And yet even I'm totally up for ripping my own CDs to listen to them on other devices.
Show threadDeterioratedStuccoMar 2

@lnr

I don't think that's inconsistent at all.

It's an ownership-based trigger.

Once you own it, you the owner should be allowed to consume it as you see fit.

It's also a defensive measure against malware.

(Same here.)

@craiggrannell

Show threadEleanor LNR BlairMar 2
@SoftwareTheron @craiggrannell The inconsistency is in how much I'm willing to bend the *legal* rules, not the moral ones.
Show threadCraig GrannellMar 2
@lnr Stay where you are, citizen! The copyright police will be with you shortly!
Show threadMax LeibmanMar 2
@craiggrannell Is it illegal to rip a CD for your own use? Apple literally advertised iTunes' ability to do this very thing for years.
Show threadMax LeibmanMar 2

@craiggrannell (Not that I disagree with your broader point.)

https://beige.party/@maxleibman/114598007553196374

Max Leibman (@[email protected])

No, Your Honor, all of the torrented Blu-ray rips on my Plex server were being used to train AI.

beige.party
Show threadRpsu (326 ppm)Mar 2
@maxleibman @craiggrannell You can always say you did it in Finland, where it is completely legal and has always been.
Show threadCraig GrannellMar 2

@maxleibman In the UK, yes. There was a very brief time where it was legal, but that was later overturned due to lobbying by industry fuckwits.

There are some minor exceptions for people who have a need to use media for accessibility reasons *if* it is not available in a digital format.

Show threadMax LeibmanMar 2
@craiggrannell Gotcha. Fuckwits, indeed!
Show threadDaniel DurransMar 2
@craiggrannell you wouldn’t steal an astronaut’s helmet…
Show threadDerick RethansMar 2
@craiggrannell I tried looking for a source for this, but no luck. Could you help?
Show threadCraig GrannellMar 2

@derickr My grumbling is based around today’s debate in the Lords: https://bsky.app/profile/ednewtonrex.bsky.social/post/3mg3lu7njoc25

But the direction of travel from this govt has been clear for a very long time.

Ed Newton-Rex (@ednewtonrex.bsky.social)

🚨 It looks like the UK government is gearing up to upend copyright law in favour of AI companies, legalising the theft of their work. This is despite creatives' huge protests, and despite previous proposals being roundly rejected by the public. Please spread the word. 🧵 1/4

Bluesky Social
Show threadHot Dog Water, will not complyMar 2

@craiggrannell

Then every artist writes only songs about robots killing themselves until AI kills itself.

Show threadgrrl_aexMar 2

@craiggrannell

They want it to look like a "considered policy determination".

But what it really looks like is corruption. Because it is.

Show threadCraig GrannellMar 2
@kitkat_blue I’m not even sure it’s corruption as much as desperation combined with arrogance and a total lack of understanding about the long-term ramifications on the British creative sector. (This version of Labour also appears to utterly despise things like that and universities, which are being hollowed out and replaced with… nothing.)
Show threadJohnsMar 2
@craiggrannell Excuse me but that's legal in Spain. Not for anything we pay a canon tax on all electronic devices cause it was assumed that they would be used for private copies!!
Show threadJanPVMar 3
@craiggrannell Of course. The capitalist regime and its purchased parties and politician puppets always protect business, not the citizen. The entire UK has, since Thatcher, been sold to private interests - these days - mostly foreign private interests, who take the money out of the country.
Show threadGregMar 4

@craiggrannell
I have often wondered how politicians deal with tech. They, themselves are largely clueless and they rely on awful or very partial sources. They do use some tech but it's mostly consumer level stuff and anyone with a bit of knowledge there is lauded as a tech expert across the board. They're usually biased to their origin tech, which is invariably proprietary and often have little experience of a) enterprise grade tech b) Open Source & Open Protocols c) Understanding user needs & experiences beyond the commercial silos they bubbled up in.

And then there's lobbyists. Politicians are far too credulous with them. There needs to be a register of every representation from commercial interests, with detailed & open minutes. And a hefty jail term for not! Any contract with the government must be open! The 'commercial interest' fig leaf must not be available. It's for the public, it's worth a lot of money and the cost of that is 'everything out in the open - from the outset!

Show threadGregMar 4
@craiggrannell
I'm also very much for @pluralistic 's proposition that countries outside the US should use Trump's tarrif setting precedent; breaking trade agreements, as reasonable justification to unburden ourselves from all the DRM legislation forced on us by US for one-way value extraction. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/10/trump-beginning-of-end-enshittification-make-tech-good-again
Trump may be the beginning of the end for ‘enshittification’ – this is our chance to make tech good again

The US president is weaponising tech, but his tariffs and Brexit provide a surprising opportunity to gain back digital control of our lives, says science fiction author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow

The Guardian