Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 1001 posts

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

#191

Post by mseidl »

perardi wrote: post #107
CivBase wrote: post #99

> this seems outrageous the same way DMCA'ing a Bittorrent client would be Why stop there? I can use my browser to illegally download content, so I guess we better issue a DMCA takedown that too. But who even needs a browser? Let's issue a takedown for the GNU Project while we're at it because I could use wget to do the same thing. In fact, I could write my own program to illegally download content, so we better just…

cURL could be used to download pornography. Think of the children!

If a kid can use curl, then they deserve the porn.

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

#193

Post by Nextgrid »

larrik wrote: post #105
jchw wrote: 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…

Can't it be trivially reinstated then by removing any references to copyrighted content? youtube-dl has plenty of legitimate uses beyond just copyright infringement.

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

#196

Post by himinlomax »

jchw wrote: post #69
paul7986 wrote: post #47

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.

It most certainly does not, as almost nobody "owns" "copyrighted material," instead most users are granted a license in this context.

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

#197

Post by adrianmonk »

crazygringo wrote: post #21

Curious if anyone with legal expertise knows if this has legs? They say: > The clear purpose of this source code is to (i) circumvent the technological protection measures used by authorized streaming services such as YouTube, and (ii) reproduce and distribute music videos and sound recordings owned by our member companies without authorization for such use. But the "circumventing" is still accessing a stream the use…

Also, does the fact that YouTube doesn't supply a download feature constitute a "technical protection measure"?

From the RIAA's point of view, it works to their benefit that a download link doesn't exist, and it may be something they like, but that doesn't mean that's why.

It could just as easily be that a download feature doesn't exist because YouTube wants you to keep returning to their site if you want to rewatch a video.

It would be one thing if some YouTube videos had a download button and others didn't. That would suggest that, on the ones where it's missing, it is missing for a reason, and that reason might be DRM. But as far as I know, YouTube doesn't have download for any videos.

Software doesn't always have all the features that end users might want, and the mere absence of a feature doesn't necessarily tell you why it's missing. Also, it's not some weird, suspicious thing to write software which fills in a feature gap in some other software. (Google encourages add-on software on other products, too. For example, Chrome extensions and Gmail add-ons.)

But, maybe there is some legal reason why this could make sense. Maybe some terms of service or licensing (for video uploaders or for regular end users) says not to download something, which would make it clear that the download feature is missing on purpose.

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

#198

Post by hiisukun »

jchw wrote: 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…

I wonder what commit added those three listed examples (from three different music companies) to the README, and when. They're the worrying component as they show intent.

In a dark universe timeline somewhere, the pull request for adding them to the README came from an RIAA employee.

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

#199

Post by deelowe »

orliesaurus wrote: post #13

> 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 example, as shown on Exhibit A, the source code expressly suggests its use to copy and/or distribute the following copyrighted works owned by our member companies IMHO this wasn't the best move, I mean... t…

So, someone could fork it, change the readme and other files to remove all references to copyrighted content. No problem?

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

#200

Post by nullc »

Because of how github works these moves are much more damaging than you might expect: In addition to revoking your access to the supposed "infringing" work, you also lose access to all your pull request comment traffic and issues -- which, unlike the source code, aren't continually replicated to the systems of all developers.
Post reply on HN