5 ms·
Ask HN: Legal ramifications of linking to illegal content?
A friend of mine asked for my help in building a really quick and dirty app that embeds movies and TV shows found on sites like MegaVideo. It's a simple weekend project and he is confident he can build an audience for it, however I am hesitant as this seems to fall in a legally questionable area.
Does anyone have any experience with linking or embedding illegal content (movies and TV shows specifically)? The better part of me says to steer clear of this but I've found a few big sites (like blinkx.com) that do this exact thing.
- jacquesm 16y agoIf you can't do the time, don't do the crime :) But youtube wouldn't be here today if everybody froze out of fear for the legal implications of what they're doing. Sometimes it works out well, even if it is illegal.
- dctoedt 16y ago1. Depends on what "embedding" means exactly. Are you talking about the same general way that YouTube videos can be embedded, i.e., providing a link and a thumbnail? 2. You might read a July 2007 piece, "Embedded Video and Copyright Infringement," posted by Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society - see http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2007/sam-bayard/embedded-video-and-copyright-infringement http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2007/sam-bayard/embedded-vid.... 3. If you're linking to pirated copies of videos as opposed to legitimate sites, check out the LimeWire copyright infringement case. In that case, a federal district judge in NYC held that LimeWire was liable for inducing others to commit copyright infringement - see, e.g., http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=10632737 http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=10632737. Judge Kimba Wood's opinion (yes, that Kimba Wood) is at http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/051110limewireop.pdf http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/051110limew.... 4. Usual disclaimer: I'm a lawyer, but not your lawyer, don't rely on this as a substitute for legal advice, etc.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- weekender 16y agoThank you for the links! In terms of embedding, he wants to actually embed the videos on his site so that they are playable there. The Limewire case is hugely intimidating, that is exactly the type of situation I want to avoid.
- patrickk 16y agoGoogle indexed all the sites on the web when they started out, even though this was against 'the rules'. According to the book "The Google Story", this can be compared to knocking on everyone's door - bound to piss off more than a few people, but ultimately everyone benefited (well maybe not Yahoo and MSN search). Recently Wired liked to a Pirate Bay torrent for a movie that got buried in some studio vault because a legal dispute - "Hackers Wanted". I guess they wanted people to experience that movie whether it's makers could agree or not. To be an entrepreneur means breaking the rules, and stepping on toes. There's a bigger chance that your friend's app won't get noticed than it is that he'll get sued. When you get successful, that's when you get sued. Getting your content to a receptive audience is a bigger problem IMO than jealously hoarding up content. All the same, you should probably consult a copyright lawyer.
- weekender 16y agoThat's true, chances are pretty slim that it will get very big. I may just end up hashing it out over the weekend anyways, so I guess I have until then to decide whether to make it public or not.
- patrickk 16y agoIf it gets big, it will become the status quo! Look at what Facebook are trying to do with their attitude to privacy. Or what the internet and iTunes has done to music industry.