5 ms·

People Are Streaming Pirated Movies on TikTok, One Short Clip at a Time

25 points by thm 3y ago

passion__desire 3y ago
I remember those days when videos on youtube could have movie playing in a moving small rectangle bouncing around, this was done to avoid content id systems I guess. Then some movies were reflected as well.
- junon 3y ago
  Or a small frame around with the video slowed down perfectly so you set it to 1.5x playback speed or whatever and it was back to the correct speed.
- rwmj 3y ago
  This is still a thing for Japanese game shows on Youtube. (For some reason Japanese TV channels try their very hardest to prevent people from paying to watch their content if they are outside Japan.) Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNCpZJawsw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNCpZJawsw (from about 2 mins in)
- Sakos 3y ago
  This still happens.
  - passion__desire 3y ago
    I am sure content id system within youtube would be very sophisticated. But if I were to solve this problem simply. I would first detect edges of all the rectangles within a video. Then get a normalized RBG color historgram for a N seconds of the rectangle forming a timeseries. Then do a approximate time-series matching over all content in my database. I am sure this simple algorithm could be highly optimized further. Is there an opensource library which does something similar?
    - Ekaros 3y ago
      It is traditional arms race. The whatever system combats something is constantly improved. And the other side consisting hundreds or thousands of people try to circumvent it all the time. Not too rarely they find some new way and that then has to be blocked.
pjc50 3y ago
After Twitter announced they upped the length limit on videos to over two hours, there was a wave of pirated movies being posted. I wonder what happened to that.
WhatsName 3y ago
I know TikTok is everyones favorite bogeyman, but short clips taken from movies have been on youtube for more than a century. Also as far as I'm concerened they should be considered fair use. At best they might convince someone to actually watch the whole thing, so whos loss is it anyway?
- junon 3y ago
  Why should they be considered fair use? Fair use very clearly dictates this is not covered.
  - tyingq 3y ago
    >Fair use very clearly dictates this is not covered Fair use, to me, is anything but clear on that topic. It specifically talks about "Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work"[1] It then generally says "If the use includes a large portion of the copyrighted work, fair use is less likely to be found; if the use employs only a small amount of copyrighted material, fair use is more likely." But then gives counter-examples that don't match that theme at all. [1] https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/ https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/
    - Retric 3y ago
      All of the factors are important. This is what really trips up movie clips: > Nature of the copyrighted work: This factor analyzes the degree to which the work that was used relates to copyright’s purpose of encouraging creative expression. Thus, using a more creative or imaginative work (such as a novel, movie, or song) is less likely to support a claim of a fair use than using a factual work (such as a technical article or news item). In addition, use of an unpublished work is less likely to be considered fair. They also score really low here: > Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes: Courts look at how the party claiming fair use is using the copyrighted work, and are more likely to find that nonprofit educational and noncommercial uses are fair. This does not mean, however, that all nonprofit education and noncommercial uses are fair and all commercial uses are not fair; instead, courts will balance the purpose and character of the use against the other factors below. Additionally, “transformative” uses are more likely to be considered fair. Transformative uses are those that add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work. Using the exact same clip can be fair use or copyright infringement based on what’s surrounding it. A long discussion of camera angles in movies using the clip is one thing, the clip by itself is very different.
webmobdev 3y ago
Youtube (and many other free video hosting services) also serve pirated TV series and movies this way. It's pretty commonand old tactic and not unique to TikTok.
promiseofbeans 3y ago
https://archive.ph/RP8oj https://archive.ph/RP8oj
smithcoin 3y ago
You’d only have to swipe 300 times to watch the Irishman.
- passion__desire 3y ago
  I think such short clips curated, surfaced and demographic matched by the almighty, all-knowing algorithm could be considered as crowd-sourced movie trailers playing the role of modern day word of mouth. Just like google books search results are restricted to few relevant snippets / pages but not the whole book, similarly Tiktok can restrict sequentially watching a movie.
- blululu 3y ago
  Plus you get to watch it in 9:16 portrait aspect ratio, just as Martin Scorsese intended. I would imagine the reason nobody has sent any DACMA notices or stepped up enforcement yet is because this method of piracy is almost too stupid to take seriously.
glandium 3y ago
Meanwhile, in Japan https://in.ign.com/anime/193667/news/japanese-youtuber-gets-2-year-jail-term-for-uploading-spy-x-family-edits-streaming-steinsgate https://in.ign.com/anime/193667/news/japanese-youtuber-gets-...
Havoc 3y ago
This reminds me of the 500 word essays split into a billion tweets. Just use the right tool for the job...
- rchaud 3y ago
  Twitter is (was) where the people are, it makes perfect sense to distribute the essay that way. Social media sites downrank external links, and most article links these days are paywalled anyway.
Unfrozen0688 3y ago
Zoomers cant torrent and they are too poor for streaming and they dont know there are free streaming sites based on http protocol. They seem to be mentally deficient as a generation. I say this as zoomers are the consumers of TikTok.
- ryanmcbride 3y ago
  Every single part of this comment is a wild conclusion to jump to. It's like a fractal of insane conclusions.
- knaik94 3y ago
  Correlation is not causation. Piracy related free web streaming has existed since the moment it became possible to profit/run with ads. Looking at a list of the most popular torrents makes it clear who the largest demographic is. Z Library is an example of just how giant the TikTok userbase and how it brought younger generations into piracy. You are misinformed.
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  There are very few resources to provide Gen Z with the knowledge they need to establish technical competence on computers. It is a serious issue, and it's really not their fault.
  - aydyn 3y ago
    There an overabundance of resources. Even zoomers know how to use google or youtube. They just choose not to.
    - thefurdrake 3y ago
      The problem partially stems from an overabundance of those resources while lacking resources for determining the integrity of the information being shared. Or, more succinctly: There's more noise than signal. Considering all the YT channels that offer blatantly false advice, advice against best practice, shortcuts, "quick tricks", "life hacks"... a newcomer to the topic has no way to figure out if they should trust LTT or trust fartbrain69420 when it comes to technical advice, and youtube has degraded the quality of its search massively.
distantsounds 3y ago
If you're watching movies on your phone through tiktok, chances are you wouldn't appreciate the source material enough to pay for it anyway.
theNJR 3y ago
Not going to lie, TikTok served me some clips of the Battleship movie and I ended up watching it. I never would have otherwise considered it. Certainly not a good movie but an easy mindless watch. Exactly what I’d except from TikTok
thefurdrake 3y ago
WSJ fails to establish why I should care. This isn't news. This is Gee Whiz content that WSJ is trying to pass off as a serious issue. Such ominous phrasing. I get it. Tiktok bad. But this ain't why.

25 points by thm 3y ago

I remember those days when videos on youtube could have movie playing in a moving small rectangle bouncing around, this was done to avoid content id systems I guess. Then some movies were reflected as well.

junon 3y ago
Or a small frame around with the video slowed down perfectly so you set it to 1.5x playback speed or whatever and it was back to the correct speed.
rwmj 3y ago
This is still a thing for Japanese game shows on Youtube. (For some reason Japanese TV channels try their very hardest to prevent people from paying to watch their content if they are outside Japan.) Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNCpZJawsw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNCpZJawsw (from about 2 mins in)
Sakos 3y ago
This still happens.
- passion__desire 3y ago
  I am sure content id system within youtube would be very sophisticated. But if I were to solve this problem simply. I would first detect edges of all the rectangles within a video. Then get a normalized RBG color historgram for a N seconds of the rectangle forming a timeseries. Then do a approximate time-series matching over all content in my database. I am sure this simple algorithm could be highly optimized further. Is there an opensource library which does something similar?
  - Ekaros 3y ago
    It is traditional arms race. The whatever system combats something is constantly improved. And the other side consisting hundreds or thousands of people try to circumvent it all the time. Not too rarely they find some new way and that then has to be blocked.

pjc50 3y ago

After Twitter announced they upped the length limit on videos to over two hours, there was a wave of pirated movies being posted. I wonder what happened to that.

WhatsName 3y ago

I know TikTok is everyones favorite bogeyman, but short clips taken from movies have been on youtube for more than a century. Also as far as I'm concerened they should be considered fair use. At best they might convince someone to actually watch the whole thing, so whos loss is it anyway?

junon 3y ago
Why should they be considered fair use? Fair use very clearly dictates this is not covered.
- tyingq 3y ago
  >Fair use very clearly dictates this is not covered Fair use, to me, is anything but clear on that topic. It specifically talks about "Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work"[1] It then generally says "If the use includes a large portion of the copyrighted work, fair use is less likely to be found; if the use employs only a small amount of copyrighted material, fair use is more likely." But then gives counter-examples that don't match that theme at all. [1] https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/ https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/
  - Retric 3y ago
    All of the factors are important. This is what really trips up movie clips: > Nature of the copyrighted work: This factor analyzes the degree to which the work that was used relates to copyright’s purpose of encouraging creative expression. Thus, using a more creative or imaginative work (such as a novel, movie, or song) is less likely to support a claim of a fair use than using a factual work (such as a technical article or news item). In addition, use of an unpublished work is less likely to be considered fair. They also score really low here: > Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes: Courts look at how the party claiming fair use is using the copyrighted work, and are more likely to find that nonprofit educational and noncommercial uses are fair. This does not mean, however, that all nonprofit education and noncommercial uses are fair and all commercial uses are not fair; instead, courts will balance the purpose and character of the use against the other factors below. Additionally, “transformative” uses are more likely to be considered fair. Transformative uses are those that add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work. Using the exact same clip can be fair use or copyright infringement based on what’s surrounding it. A long discussion of camera angles in movies using the clip is one thing, the clip by itself is very different.

webmobdev 3y ago

Youtube (and many other free video hosting services) also serve pirated TV series and movies this way. It's pretty commonand old tactic and not unique to TikTok.

promiseofbeans 3y ago

https://archive.ph/RP8oj https://archive.ph/RP8oj

smithcoin 3y ago

You’d only have to swipe 300 times to watch the Irishman.

passion__desire 3y ago
I think such short clips curated, surfaced and demographic matched by the almighty, all-knowing algorithm could be considered as crowd-sourced movie trailers playing the role of modern day word of mouth. Just like google books search results are restricted to few relevant snippets / pages but not the whole book, similarly Tiktok can restrict sequentially watching a movie.
blululu 3y ago
Plus you get to watch it in 9:16 portrait aspect ratio, just as Martin Scorsese intended. I would imagine the reason nobody has sent any DACMA notices or stepped up enforcement yet is because this method of piracy is almost too stupid to take seriously.

glandium 3y ago

Meanwhile, in Japan https://in.ign.com/anime/193667/news/japanese-youtuber-gets-2-year-jail-term-for-uploading-spy-x-family-edits-streaming-steinsgate https://in.ign.com/anime/193667/news/japanese-youtuber-gets-...

Havoc 3y ago

This reminds me of the 500 word essays split into a billion tweets. Just use the right tool for the job...

rchaud 3y ago
Twitter is (was) where the people are, it makes perfect sense to distribute the essay that way. Social media sites downrank external links, and most article links these days are paywalled anyway.

Unfrozen0688 3y ago

Zoomers cant torrent and they are too poor for streaming and they dont know there are free streaming sites based on http protocol. They seem to be mentally deficient as a generation. I say this as zoomers are the consumers of TikTok.

ryanmcbride 3y ago
Every single part of this comment is a wild conclusion to jump to. It's like a fractal of insane conclusions.
knaik94 3y ago
Correlation is not causation. Piracy related free web streaming has existed since the moment it became possible to profit/run with ads. Looking at a list of the most popular torrents makes it clear who the largest demographic is. Z Library is an example of just how giant the TikTok userbase and how it brought younger generations into piracy. You are misinformed.
thefurdrake 3y ago
There are very few resources to provide Gen Z with the knowledge they need to establish technical competence on computers. It is a serious issue, and it's really not their fault.
- aydyn 3y ago
  There an overabundance of resources. Even zoomers know how to use google or youtube. They just choose not to.
  - thefurdrake 3y ago
    The problem partially stems from an overabundance of those resources while lacking resources for determining the integrity of the information being shared. Or, more succinctly: There's more noise than signal. Considering all the YT channels that offer blatantly false advice, advice against best practice, shortcuts, "quick tricks", "life hacks"... a newcomer to the topic has no way to figure out if they should trust LTT or trust fartbrain69420 when it comes to technical advice, and youtube has degraded the quality of its search massively.

distantsounds 3y ago

If you're watching movies on your phone through tiktok, chances are you wouldn't appreciate the source material enough to pay for it anyway.

theNJR 3y ago

Not going to lie, TikTok served me some clips of the Battleship movie and I ended up watching it. I never would have otherwise considered it. Certainly not a good movie but an easy mindless watch. Exactly what I’d except from TikTok

thefurdrake 3y ago

WSJ fails to establish why I should care. This isn't news. This is Gee Whiz content that WSJ is trying to pass off as a serious issue. Such ominous phrasing. I get it. Tiktok bad. But this ain't why.