YouTube-dl has received a DMCA takedown from RIAA • Hacker News Board

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

#621

Post by slaymaker1907 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 10:58 PM UTC

m11a wrote: post #533

NobodyNada wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

“For all distributions of copyrighted content through their service” I don’t think that’s true? I think that only extends to this particular DMCA. Obviously it wouldn’t extend to eg me claiming Ruby on Rails is copyright infringement.

You are correct, apparently YT itself sided with Lindsay Ellis when she received a completely bogus DMCA request.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3v5wFMQRqs

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

#622

Post by Kim_Bruning » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 10:59 PM UTC

nullc wrote: post #537

Kim_Bruning wrote: post #286

Lesson learned: always use Creative Commons licensed data to demo your multimedia tools. Else people get the wrong idea. Some examples for youtube-dl might be: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqz-KE-bpKQ Big buck bunny * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRsGyueVLvQ Sintel * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhWc3b3KhnY Spring In fact, youtube actually allows you to filter by CC, so there's never a reason not to!

Hi Kim! They couldn't have done this. The 'infringing' links were in the test suite and were specifically tests for content from particular sources which had special links which required different techniques to download them. The test would not have been accomplished if they were pointed at links which didn't have the behaviour that was being tested.

Hi Nullc, long time no see! :-) And shoot, that is annoying.

It makes for really bad optics though. Gforz's suggestion to upload test video with similar parameters is -in 20/20 hindsight- probably the better plan. Definitely better than giving bad ideas to copyright lawyers.

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

#623

Post by mimi89999 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 10:59 PM UTC

__s wrote: post #517

rmrfstar wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were the developers in the habit of signing commits, or do we just have to assume that the gitee mirror is 100% legit?

Cross check commit hashes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24873953

Maybe you would prefer https://github.com/rbrito/pkg-youtube-dl ?

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

#624

Post by nexuist » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 10:59 PM UTC

blazespin wrote: post #575

_23sd wrote: post #464

Worth noting the MPA already tried doing this to Popcorn Time, a BitTorrent client designed to provide a Netflix-like UX.[1] The Popcorn Time devs put in a counter-notice and the repository was back up a few weeks later when the period for the MPA to respond expired. The same thing will probably happen here because this is not one of the purposes of DMCA takedown letters, period. Even if there are inappropriate test…

I just used windows-g to record upside down music video. Seems to work fine. mp4 file is in my captures video. Sound is great. How is that acceptable and this isn't? btw, Popcorn time is a bit different situation. I would say bit torrent is more the problem, or at least the people who upload pirated content. What is odd though is that it's the RIAA filing suit here and not google. Google has a real complaint, RIAA ce…

> How is that acceptable and this isn't?

Because Microsoft can afford lawyers to fight this, and random GitHub projects can't. It's an intimidation tactic.

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

#625

Post by iruoy » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 11:01 PM UTC

bArray wrote: post #612

I would like to add to the discussion that there are many perfectly legal uses of YoutubeDL: * Downloading a video you uploaded and no longer have stored locally. * Downloading a video to create a fair-use response video. * Downloading video/music that is free commons (or some other non-restrictive license). * (Gray) Downloading content to archive it. * Downloading content you have already purchased and have in your…

That server is a little busy since it's been mentioned here. I've copied that repo to these locations:

https://gitlab.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl

https://git.teknik.io/ytdl-org/youtube-dl

If a maintainer would like top aquire these orgs just message me.

If anyone has an up to date repo of the github pages repo that'd be great too.

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

#626

Post by dTal » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 11:01 PM UTC

aquova wrote: post #139

While its good to get a backup of the source code, youtube-dl is one of those projects that quickly becomes useless as Google mixes stuff around within YouTube, which they like to do. Without an active developer base, the project will quickly become less and less effective, which is one of the big concerns IMO about this lawsuit.

I would go so far as to say the source code of youtube-dl is less relevant than its existence as a rallying point. The project can be disrupted by attacking its centralized points, but I doubt the general effort can be suppressed long-term.

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

#627

Post by how2draw » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 11:01 PM UTC

Here's what you can do:

1. Clone the repository. Make an insignificant change to the initial commit in order to change all commit hashes. Push to github as a new repository.

2. Create a password "protected" zip file (or smaller volumes) containing the repository. Use a password that's easily found in common wordlists. Commit it to another project and push to github.

Microsoft GitHub may be centralized, but it's not omniscient. RIAA may be a control freak, but it's not omnipotent. Let information be free for all.

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

#628

Post by sweetlucipher » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 11:02 PM UTC

Can't I just FORK it and change the Readme and/or tests to not include references to what could be constituted as infringing acts, and purposely state that the purpose of MY FORK is to download YouTube videos that are in the public domain?

If it's been taken down I am sure it will pop up on some torrent. The authors and all those who have contributed to it have copies.

How can a court tell me not to publish generally useful software with a legitimate intent?

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

#629

Post by Aerroon » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 11:03 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #563

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…

Does it really matter what they said? This is like the reverse of those common disclaimers on hacking tools and tutorials which claim: This is for educational use only. I've always wondered, are courts fooled by such disclaimers? Are their authors untouchable just because they put in some boilerplate disclaimer like that? As for what was written in some code somewhere in the repo, it could have been written by anyone…

>I've always wondered, are courts fooled by such disclaimers? Are their authors untouchable just because they put in some boilerplate disclaimer like that?

I think the answer is that this doesn't always sufficiently protect them, but these small bits add up. It's useful to be able to point at words written beforehand that could help you in a legal situation. This is what corporate speak is about too and enough people engage in it that it likely does something.

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

#630

Post by mhandley » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 11:03 PM UTC

You can use Chrome to download from Youtube - you just need to know the temporary URL. One way to get this is to play the Youtube video in VLC - the media information window will tell you the temporary URL, and then you can use Chrome to download the content. So maybe the RIAA should issue a takedown request against the company that makes Chrome?