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RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

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Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#131

Post by DJHenk »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #55
corobo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question being "Hooray, we can bill our clients more. Piracy is back! Who's name is going on this bonus here then?"

How do you optimize to maximize billing while minimizing effective takedowns? If I recall, you could host youtube-dl like repos in the Netherlands and Turkey on VMs running hosted git, and they'd be out of reach of the copyright cartel.

That is not hard, as the actions are fueled by greed and depend on spreading fear. It has nothing to do with rational thinking. At least not in the way an average consumer would assume.

Copyright cartels live by bullying. It is not important how much of the takedowns are actually effective, as long as they get to dominate the news with their lawsuits. Because only that will already deter al lot of people. Just drag everything on forever and have an occasional success that you can trump on every news channel. That is enough to spread fear. And that works also in other countries, like The Netherlands, because they will have some representative organization there (Brein, in this case) that is happy to take on the role of the bully for a small amount of cash.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#132

Post by colejohnson66 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #62
bogwog wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. If this situation goes viral and leads to an overall increase in piracy, someone at RIAA will have to answer for it.

As long as they act they will be fine. Github will be more at risk, since they are legally responsible for content hosted on their site. They have some protections under the DMCA, but only if they respond to takedown requests in a timely manner. And those takedown requests take time and effort to process. The RIAA and other copyright holder representatives have automated submitting a DMCA takedown request process age…

Is the RIAA actually sending DMCA takedowns? Or are they just doing ContentID claims? The former of which puts a strike on your account and can be appealed in the courts while the latter is entirely Google’s doing and you’re at the mercy of their appeals process.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#133

Post by pas »

simias wrote: post #34

It "backfires" because people post a small number of mp3 files on github that will promptly taken down? We did it reddit, the DMCA is no more! What a silly headline. If you want to actually something that will matter then make sure that github doesn't become a single point of failure for FLOSS software in the future. Or get your GH account banned by posting Lady Gaga tracks in your repos, you do you.

TorrentFreak's headlines are terrible "fan service" most of the time.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#135

Post by DJHenk »

YetAnotherNick wrote: post #117
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #78

I'm not sure I'd call this "backfiring," as I'm sure that the RIAA must have seen this coming (they have been the Snidely Whiplash of the tech industry for a couple of decades). This kind of reaction is not exactly anything new; just the medium. I think that pirating streams actually helps to sell music. At least, in my limited sample pool, that has been the case. I used to stream an Internet radio station that playe…

> I think that pirating streams actually helps to sell music. At least, in my limited sample pool, that has been the case. So you say that users pirate the music and then buy the same music they illegally downloaded?

> So you say that users pirate the music and then buy the same music they illegally downloaded?

Yes? That is really not as far fetched as you make it sound. I have no problem paying a creator for something that I enjoy. But I do want to know that its worth the money. In older times we would use the radio to help make that decision. Nowadays there is so much more available than what is played radio, but I still want to make an informed decision. Youtube works well for that too.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#136

Post by sebastien_b »

wolfgke wrote: post #118
skyde wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the problem is lot of the incentive to contribute for free is the name recognition. Lot of dev see it as a way to show what they can do (portfolio) because that can’t share the code they produce at work

Is is good for name recognition if you contribute to software of somewhat dubious legal status such as youtube-dl?

“Dubious legal status” defined by whom?

All GitHub got was a take down request (which they were required to act on), not proof of anything being illegal (which requires a court case to prove)

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#137

Post by vagrantJin »

DJHenk wrote: post #131
toomuchtodo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you optimize to maximize billing while minimizing effective takedowns? If I recall, you could host youtube-dl like repos in the Netherlands and Turkey on VMs running hosted git, and they'd be out of reach of the copyright cartel.

That is not hard, as the actions are fueled by greed and depend on spreading fear. It has nothing to do with rational thinking. At least not in the way an average consumer would assume. Copyright cartels live by bullying. It is not important how much of the takedowns are actually effective, as long as they get to dominate the news with their lawsuits. Because only that will already deter al lot of people. Just drag e…

> Because only that will already deter alot of people.

Thing about software is it doesn't need a lot of people. Just a handful.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#138

Post by zimbatm »

skyde wrote: post #102
wolfgke wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If developers are afraid, they will be tempted to program a solution for censorship-resistant hosting of open source software that additionally allows to contribute anonymously (not just pseudonymously).

the problem is lot of the incentive to contribute for free is the name recognition. Lot of dev see it as a way to show what they can do (portfolio) because that can’t share the code they produce at work

That's only true for high-profile projects.

Projects like YouTube-dl are usually born out of passion, and the best kind of projects.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#139

Post by nitrogen »

backtoyoujim wrote: post #76
beloch wrote: post #72

Music consumers across multiple generations, while supporting artists, have expected a certain degree of freedom with the music playback technology placed in their hands. Whether it was recording a custom mix-tape for a special friend full of copied tracks or ripping a stream to play back on demand, there are certain things that most people see as reasonable and harmless. RIAA made a habit of attacking things seen as…

Does anyone think that music company executives (the boss's boss) have ever paid money for mp3s, cds, tapes, 8-tracks, and vinyl ?

Music and video production software tends to have some of the craziest DRM, so that should tell you what the audience for that software is like.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#140

Post by IggleSniggle »

TrueDuality wrote: post #98
sp332 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making developers afraid to work on youtube-dl is a much more powerful move than taking down a few songs that were already available for free on YouTube.

I don't think this inspired fear in any relevant developers. If anything there are probably more developers willing to work on it now.

Yuuup. I haven’t used youtube-dl since I was a teacher and needed it to bring educational videos into the classroom that lacked Internet.

But now I have a copy of the source, and have been thinking about how I might contribute and/or repackage it as a “browser” (with the option to run it in “headless mode”, of course).

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