Thursday, May 10, 2007

More batty anti-piracy laws

In Florida it seems they have a new law allegedly aimed at CD piracy.

"New "pawn shop" laws are springing up across the United States that will make selling your used CDs at the local record shop something akin to getting arrested. No, you won't spend any time in jail, but you'll certainly feel like a criminal once the local record shop makes copies of all of your identifying information and even collects your fingerprints. Such is the state of affairs in Florida, which now has the dubious distinction of being so anal about the sale of used music CDs that record shops there are starting to get out of the business of dealing with used content because they don't want to pay a $10,000 bond for the "right" to treat their customers like criminals."

Shops in Florida now need a permit to sell used CDs. They also need to lodge a "bond" of $10,000 with the Florida department of agriculture. In addition they need to fingerprint and get copies of drivers' licences of anyone "selling" them used CDs. These sellers cannot be paid in cash - they can only have store credit. And the shop can't sell the CD for at least 30 days after getting it.

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