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How is using youtube-dl different to using a "VCR" and recording OTA television?
by comeonseriously 6y ago
How is using youtube-dl different to using a "VCR" and recording OTA television?
- roywiggins 6y agoRIAA alleges that it bypasses a form of DRM. Youtube tries to obfuscate the full URL of videos, so youtube-dl does a little dance to work out where to download it from. If this is a form of DRM, then the DMCA plausibly applies.
- comeonseriously 6y agoSo, the argument is whether or not obfuscation is DRM? If that's true anyone can claim that some weird URL scheme is DRM. That's a dangerous slope to tread.
- roywiggins 6y agoI think it is, too, but "is this sufficiently obfuscatory to fall under the DMCA or not" is really only something a court can decide- it's not a technical question. So "this is obviously not DRM" is an argument, but until a court says otherwise the RIAA seems to have a leg to stand on.
- sudosysgen 6y agoI mean, technically, can this be called obfuscation when Google provides to you the code to de obfuscate it?
- roywiggins 6y agoThat's how DRM usually works, one way or another.
- Chris2048 6y ago"is really only something a court can decide" Sometimes I think the scope of what a court is allowed to decide is crazy. It allows new concepts to be manufactured for the convenience of muddying the legal waters. Why the hell legislate around "DRM" and then decide later what that means.