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Megaupload, for the uninitiated, allows one to download or stream via megavideo all sorts of pirated material. I know that when you stream the video, the player
by rjett 16y ago
Megaupload, for the uninitiated, allows one to download or stream via megavideo all sorts of pirated material. I know that when you stream the video, the player will stop after 72 minutes and the user is prompted to pay for megavideo premium service or wait 54 minutes until they can view more content.
Here's a question I've always had: Since most of the material on the site is pirated, can megavideo still legitimately charge for access to their content? Or a more interesting question, does paying for this content confer upon the user the right to view this copyrighted material?
- dangrossman 16y agoMegavideo can charge you to use their site. That they may be infringing upon copyrights is a separate matter. There is no right to view copyrighted material. Copyright provides an author with monopoly over the rights to copy, distribute and make derivative works. Viewing is not copying, distributing or making derivative works (in the case of streaming). It's MegaUpload that needs permission from the copyright holder to copy and distribute the work. Even if MegaUpload somehow automatically paid the copyright holders every time someone paid them to view something, it'd still be illegal.
- DrJokepu 16y agoThe way these sites work, they play the safe harbour card; they immediately follow up on DMCA or other copyright requests and remove anything that's reported to be copyright infringing without much hesitation. However, since there's no central directory or search facility like on YouTube on these sites, it is a bit hard for copyright owners to find illegal copies on these sites in practice. As they don't keep any logs of downloads, it's impossible to find the people who download copyrighted files from these services. While (due to my job) I'm on the side of the "evil copyright holders and their cronies", I can't help but be amused by the creativity of some people when it comes to coming up with new creative ways to illegally distribute copyrighted material.
- Raphael 16y ago>Viewing is not copying The site sends you the bits. There's nothing stopping you from caching what you receive.
- baddox 16y agoThen the maintainers of all the public and private routers between you and the host are also committing copyright infringement by caching the bits long enough to route them.
- roel_v 16y agoThey are /copying/, but they are not infringing because these "technical necessities" (exact wording depends on legislation) are in most IP protection laws excluded from being infringements.
- roel_v 16y ago"Viewing is not copying, distributing or making derivative works (in the case of streaming)." This is blatantly false. Copying for the purpose of viewing is most certainly "copying" in the sense that it can constitute a copyright infringement.
- mukyu 16y agoCopyright also includes performance rights.