UK Parliament home

Open Give consumers the right to back up physical media they legally own

Created by Craig Donovan
Closes on

Introduce a statutory private-copying exception allowing consumers to back up physical media they legally own for personal preservation. The right must cease if the original is sold, prohibit distribution, and permit narrow DRM bypass for archiving.

Physical media can become unusable through disc degradation, defects and hardware obsolescence, causing owners to lose access despite reasonable care.

UK law gives computer programs a backup exception, but no equivalent right exists for physical games, films, TV or music.

The Government should introduce a private-copying exception allowing owners to back up physical media for personal use, provided the original is retained, copies aren't shared, and DRM may be bypassed for archival use only.

Sign this petition

19 signatures

Show on a map

10,000

Petition progress

View all updates for this petition, with the most recent first.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 11 March 2027.