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YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

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Re: YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire IP concept is really hard to make sense of with the web: a browser works by making a local copy of a remote resource and then making that local copy available to the user. I don’t see why, from the server’s perspective, the precise client matters: if I use curl + pandoc to read your webpage, is that really meaningfully different from using Firefox or Chrome?

> is that really meaningfully different from using Firefox or Chrome? In the USA legally it is because the vast majority of the judges that have ruled on these things think anything that isn't a browser is a hacking tool. Using wget is enough to get you thrown in federal prison for accessing public web resources.

> Using wget is enough to get you thrown in federal prison for accessing public web resources.

Example?

Re: YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

#173
post #105
post #4

Note that RIAA is making this takedown because the software CAN be used to download copyrighted music and videos, and it uses examples in the ~~README~~(unit tests, see correction[1]) as an example of that: > We also note that the source code prominently includes as sample uses of the source code the downloading of copies of our members’ copyrighted sound recordings and music videos, as noted in Exhibit A hereto. For…

The fact that copyrighted works were included in the readme shows it was intended for that use, and the RIAA complaint will likely stand up to any legal scrutiny. Just because it can be used for legit purposes too won't matter in the slightest. I mean, Napster could have been used for legal means as well, and it got destroyed in court. The only chance tools like this have legally is when infringement is an "unintende…

No it doesn't follow at all, any more than had the repo owners included a couple of public domain recordings in the repo then the conclusion that the tool was clearly intended to download public domain recordings.

Re: YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

#174
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that copyrighted works were included in the readme shows it was intended for that use, and the RIAA complaint will likely stand up to any legal scrutiny. Just because it can be used for legit purposes too won't matter in the slightest. I mean, Napster could have been used for legal means as well, and it got destroyed in court. The only chance tools like this have legally is when infringement is an "unintende…

Should it stand up to legal scrutiny though? What does it matter if I play the beatles on youtube by watching in a web browser or watching an .mp4 file that I just downloaded? It's functionally the same.

But it's not legally the same.

Re: YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

#175
Considering youtube-dl isn't doing anything a web browser accessing these sites can't do, essentially serving as a headless web browser with a convenient CLI, I don't see how this could possibly have a leg to stand on.

It's like serving Mozilla a DMCA takedown for FireFox.

I however welcome the highly visible reminder that github should only be used as a mirror at most.

Re: YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

#176
post #19

It's outrageous indeed that GH/MS is complying. It's not that far from targeting wget or curl, were it not for the widespread use of them in industry.

IANAL, but as far as I know GitHub has to comply with DMCA requests. Otherwise, they would lose their safe harbor protection and become liable for all distributions of copyrighted content through their service. However, GitHub is also required to reinstate `youtube-dl` if the creator files a DMCA counter-notice.

This is not a valid DMCA takedown request, as the claimant has not asserted copyright ownership of anything in the repository.

This notice is a conflation of two separate aspects of the DMCA, the copyright takedown process and technological circumvention devices. If the RIAA wishes to claim that youtube-dl is a circumvention device, the proper route is to sue the authors of youtube-dl. This notice is an abuse of process, and highlights the need for a penalty for fraudulent DMCA requests.

Re: YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

#179
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why in the world did they include copyright works in the README? That's contributory infringement!

Why? youtube-dl is a violation of YouTube's ToS most probably, but does using it to download a copyrighted video necessarily constitute copyright infringement? I have literally used youtube-dl to watch YouTube, in the past; it's handy to be able to use whatever media player you want, including ones that have better scrubbing.

Umm, yes the law makes it clear downloading copyrighted material you do not own is not legal.

The RIAA and MPAA were suing users of Kazaa, BitTorrent, etc individually because of this law you may or may not like, but that's again the law!

Re: YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

#180

You can download the most recent version of the YouTube-DL code from Wayback Machine here: https://web.archive.org/web/20201018144703/https://github.co... Fuck the RIAA

youtube-dl is in every linux repo, so the source code is widely mirrored and is not going anywhere.

they need to move development elsewhere though

youtube-dl becomes obsolete very quickly as endpoints make changes on their settings and formats, notably youtube.com themselves

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