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YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

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581–590 of 686 posts

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#581
post #184

It seems like EFF fought for youtube-dl and GitHub used their letter as legal firepower to bring the repo back online. If GitHub were fighting for the developer they would have funded the attorney, right? Though from their blog post it does look like they are taking steps to fund defense in the future as well as other steps to improve the situation. Reading EFFs claim is pretty interesting, they state that saving a c…

Honestly, the name is problematic. Why do some developers insist on bad names? Stop the bad names .. unpronounceable crap like xoyx-mp4, zycx10 should also be avoided .. what's wrong with vidl, or something simple like that? .. I'm half joking, but it's worth underscoring.

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIU the argument is more that youtube-dl is effectively a web browser and doesn’t do anything that a web browser doesn’t do. Further, it does not include any “secret” key for DRM circumvention like might be bundled with e.g. Chrome in the case of Widevine, where browser vendors agree to protect the secret key.

Right, but the law makes no mention of secret keys, it just says you can't go around anything that controls access to a copyright work; and you can't provide tools to do so. The actual legal definition of tools covers both actual technical purpose as well as marketed purpose. Rebranding, say, OBS as "Recorder for YouTube" and talking about how you can use it to get around YouTube's downloading protections by screenca…

as well as marketed purpose

Yes, it would be problematic if, for example, Samsung was marketing their latest flagship as "Our dark-light technology means you can take nearly pixel-perfect video of movies while you watch them in the movie theatre!"

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Youtube wasn't behind the DMCA takedown, though. Do they even care about youtube-dl?

> Do they [YouTube/Google] even care about youtube-dl? A downloaded video doesn't generate ad revenue.

Yes, but is there any indication that they work against youtube-dl in some specific way? Adversarial actions like changing youtube to render youtube-dl non-functional?

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#584
post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a DMCA argument (I'm not hacking). But it doesn't really work: If you protect your house with no lock, not even a door, but just a little rope with a sign on: "Do not jump over or duck under this ribbon, or cut it!", that's, for the DMCA, enough - so you get into fun games where you claim that, say, a long random unique key that is right there in the HTML youtube.com serves which links to the video is a 'secur…

> "Do not jump over or duck under this ribbon, or cut it!", that's, for the DMCA, enough - so you get into fun games where you claim that No. There must be an effective technological measure (objectively, according to the state of the art); see https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201 (a)(1)(A): No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this t…

This law article is utterly hilarious and self-contradictory. No-one should be able to circumvent "a technological measure that effectively controls access", by definition. If someone does circumvent a measure intended to control access, this proves that the measure was not, in fact, effective, thereby rendering the entire article inconsequential.

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#585
From the EFF letter [1]:

> We presume that this "signature" code is what RIAA refers to as a "rolling cipher," although YouTube's JavaScript code does not contain this phrase.

Does this mean the RIAA just invented the term out of thin air to mislead people?

[1]: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/e00bfb544e93bfd3066fe169...

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#586
post #184

It seems like EFF fought for youtube-dl and GitHub used their letter as legal firepower to bring the repo back online. If GitHub were fighting for the developer they would have funded the attorney, right? Though from their blog post it does look like they are taking steps to fund defense in the future as well as other steps to improve the situation. Reading EFFs claim is pretty interesting, they state that saving a c…

Honestly, the name is problematic. Why do some developers insist on bad names? Stop the bad names .. unpronounceable crap like xoyx-mp4, zycx10 should also be avoided .. what's wrong with vidl, or something simple like that? .. I'm half joking, but it's worth underscoring.

They literally had a test case in the repo for circumventing copy protection on youtube.

I'm somewhat baffled they managed to get the repo reinstated given that's very much a violation of the DMCA.

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#587
post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not the case, and all that has happened is a removal: https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/commit/1fb034d029c8b7...

That commit details the replacement of the music videos with a generic test video, exactly what I said. I'm unsure how it is supposed to show it is not the case.

Incorrect. There's a single green line that has an alteration to replace a music video ID "UxxajLWwzqY" in a test case that actually only makes use of ID "BaW_jenozKc" ("Use the first video ID in the URL").

The removed "Test generic use_cipher_signature video (#897)" case did make use of ID UxxajLWwzqY.

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#589
post #584
post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Do not jump over or duck under this ribbon, or cut it!", that's, for the DMCA, enough - so you get into fun games where you claim that No. There must be an effective technological measure (objectively, according to the state of the art); see https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201 (a)(1)(A): No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this t…

This law article is utterly hilarious and self-contradictory. No-one should be able to circumvent "a technological measure that effectively controls access", by definition. If someone does circumvent a measure intended to control access, this proves that the measure was not, in fact, effective, thereby rendering the entire article inconsequential.

The lock at your door is also assumed to effectively control who can open it, but as we know keys can be dupplicated. However, it is not possible to copy it without access to your original key and the necessary effort. This is sufficient for the legislator. It would be different if you hung your key on the outside of the door a priori, like Youtube does.

Re: YouTube-dl's repository has been restored

#590
post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Youtube wasn't behind the DMCA takedown, though. Do they even care about youtube-dl?

Youtube has to listen to the RIAA's demands because music and music videos are a huge portion of their traffic. The music industry could decide to move all that to Spotify if they chose.

No they cannot. Music videos that aren't on Youtube don't generate much in the way of traffic anywhere else. Artists have tried it and failed.

They absolutely need eachother and can't afford to be nasty to eachother.

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