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More importantly, if a work is distributed under a "protection" mechanism that is regularly bypassed by browsers, does that mean that browsers are circumvention

More importantly, if a work is distributed under a "protection" mechanism that is regularly bypassed by browsers, does that mean that browsers are circumvention tools too?

bitwize 6y ago
Browsers don't bypass the protection mechanism, they implement it. Certain YouTube videos are licensed only for streaming playback by the YouTube site or app. There's JavaScript on the YouTube site that descrambles the URL of the content. Going to the YouTube site and playing back a video from there is fine. However, if you were to write, say, a Node version of youtube-dl that downloads and 'eval's the descrambling code from the site, and use that to download a video for uses not licensed or authorized by the rightsholder, that too would be circumvention under the DMCA and thus illegal. There's really is no way around this. YouTube videos are protected by technological copyright restrictions. ANY attempt to get around those restrictions is a crime. Even if this were not the case, you would be committing copyright infringement by downloading the videos for unauthorized use anyway. The DMCA just gives legal teeth to technological attempts to prevent casual infringement.
- feanaro 6y ago
  > Browsers don't bypass the protection mechanism, they implement it. This is incorrect. The website implements the protection mechanism, browsers execute it, just as youtube-dl. The implementor is the person writing the code, not the system executing it. > Certain YouTube videos are licensed only for streaming playback by the YouTube site or app. The meaning of this sentence is unclear. What does it mean for playback to only be allowed by the (web)site? Websites alone cannot do anything -- they require a web agent which fetches and executes them. Firefox, Chrome, Safari and youtube-dl are examples of such agents. > Even if this were not the case, you would be committing copyright infringement by downloading the videos for unauthorized use anyway. Luckily for me, I am in a jurisdiction where this is not the case and where DMCA plays no role.

More importantly, if a work is distributed under a "protection" mechanism that is regularly bypassed by browsers, does that mean that browsers are circumvention tools too?

bitwize 6y ago

Browsers don't bypass the protection mechanism, they implement it. Certain YouTube videos are licensed only for streaming playback by the YouTube site or app. There's JavaScript on the YouTube site that descrambles the URL of the content. Going to the YouTube site and playing back a video from there is fine. However, if you were to write, say, a Node version of youtube-dl that downloads and 'eval's the descrambling code from the site, and use that to download a video for uses not licensed or authorized by the rightsholder, that too would be circumvention under the DMCA and thus illegal. There's really is no way around this. YouTube videos are protected by technological copyright restrictions. ANY attempt to get around those restrictions is a crime. Even if this were not the case, you would be committing copyright infringement by downloading the videos for unauthorized use anyway. The DMCA just gives legal teeth to technological attempts to prevent casual infringement.

feanaro 6y ago
> Browsers don't bypass the protection mechanism, they implement it. This is incorrect. The website implements the protection mechanism, browsers execute it, just as youtube-dl. The implementor is the person writing the code, not the system executing it. > Certain YouTube videos are licensed only for streaming playback by the YouTube site or app. The meaning of this sentence is unclear. What does it mean for playback to only be allowed by the (web)site? Websites alone cannot do anything -- they require a web agent which fetches and executes them. Firefox, Chrome, Safari and youtube-dl are examples of such agents. > Even if this were not the case, you would be committing copyright infringement by downloading the videos for unauthorized use anyway. Luckily for me, I am in a jurisdiction where this is not the case and where DMCA plays no role.