9 ms·

This is actually illegal. The DCMA and perhaps some earlier electronic circumvention laws make this act a very real breach of US law. Publicly stating it is a

by snoonan 13y ago

This is actually illegal. The DCMA and perhaps some earlier electronic circumvention laws make this act a very real breach of US law. Publicly stating it is a bit dangerous and could cost the author if the NFL decided to pursue a case. How crazy is that? Of course, while illegal, I personally think it is very RIGHT.

baddox 13y ago
Source?
- eli 13y ago
  "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title." http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201
  - 67726e 13y ago
    What if I used this DNS for other reasons and just happened to find that I could watch NFL? Would that still be illegal? Is it my responsibility to know where/why/how they block content so that I don't inadvertently access it without the owners permission? I imagine it isn't as if they have a giant banner across the site saying "Americans with funky DNS, keep out!"
    - taf2 13y ago
      ignorance of the law is not an excuse for violating the law... or something like that...
      - 67726e 13y ago
        But is that really ignorance of the law? Wouldn't there be a difference between knowing the law and knowing whether the content is blocked under other "normal" conditions?
      - baddox 13y ago
        The word "circumvent" implies intention.
  - baddox 13y ago
    The anti-circumvention laws are definitely vague enough to prohibit this (as well as most other access of remove resources). It's not at all covered by the DMCA though, right?
    - eli 13y ago
      Not sure what you mean... that is a quote from the DMCA.
tsaoutourpants 13y ago
While I can see a colorable argument that under DMCA this is illegal (circumventing a copyright protection), I think that the argument that there are a variety of reasons a user could change to a different DNS server, and relying on DNS to identify the location of users is an inherently incomplete copyright protection, would prevail.
- eli 13y ago
  IANAL, but I think that's terrible advice. The DMCA doesn't say your copyright protection scheme has to be airtight or even very good. The blog post is specifically about circumventing the NFL's copyright control technology.
edlebert 13y ago
It is not RIGHT. The NFL has the _right_ to sell their content however they like, and they coordinate their blackout rules with the cable channels who pay for them. If you don't like it, the RIGHT action is to pay for cable, buy tickets, or do what I do and go without.
- jbooth 13y ago
  Substitute "how things ought to be" for right. I'd be willing to pay a fair price, say $20/mo to stream NFL games and watch my out-of-market hometown team. I shouldn't have to pay for $100/mo of services I don't want to get access to them. Ideally, the market would be allowing me to purchase the good that I want, in practice, they have contracts that don't allow them to sell it to me. Talking about "right" in regards to copyright law is a bit sticky given that the entire legal underpinning is 'how long ago do we have to extend it to keep Mickey Mouse in ABC/Disney's IP portfolio".
  - koryteg 13y ago
    i know this doesnt help everyone out. but if you have verizon, you can pay $5 a month for mobile streaming most of (if not all) the games. plus if you have an appleTV you can airplay them over to your actual TV. this works well enough for me.
    - dhimes 13y ago
      I still can't get them on my 65" TV though- and I would pay for it. I just don't want to have to get satellite.
- jayd16 13y ago
  Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
- criley2 13y ago
  I'm on the fence here. The NFL is not HBO. They're not locking down content and forcing you into old business models to get to their content. The NFL goes to GREAT LENGTHS to make content available to you without cheating. GREAT LENGTHS. * Sunday Ticket is free for DirecTV users * Sunday Ticket is $40/season with the purchase of $60 Madden 25 (meaning, $100/total for the whole season of Sunday Ticket), and does not require a cable/satellite package of any kind * NFL Rewind offers all games and condensed games next-day (not live) for $40/season (or $10/mo) * HDTV Bunny Ears or Aereo will provide local in-market games for free (or the cost of Aereo) * Many games are broadcast online for free on NFL.com or through the website of the network showing the game, like Fox or CBS And I'm sure there are other options, too. My friends and I are discussing the NFL Rewind option, while it's not live, it does include condensed games which is great for fantasy players with lots of players across lots of teams.
lelandbatey 13y ago
Just so people who are just showing up understand: The title of this post was originally along the lines of "Avoid NFL blackouts online for just $2/month using domain-specific DNS resolution". That's what this comment is addressing.

by snoonan 13y ago

baddox 13y ago

Source?

eli 13y ago
"No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title." http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201
- 67726e 13y ago
  What if I used this DNS for other reasons and just happened to find that I could watch NFL? Would that still be illegal? Is it my responsibility to know where/why/how they block content so that I don't inadvertently access it without the owners permission? I imagine it isn't as if they have a giant banner across the site saying "Americans with funky DNS, keep out!"
  - taf2 13y ago
    ignorance of the law is not an excuse for violating the law... or something like that...
    - 67726e 13y ago
      But is that really ignorance of the law? Wouldn't there be a difference between knowing the law and knowing whether the content is blocked under other "normal" conditions?
    - baddox 13y ago
      The word "circumvent" implies intention.
- baddox 13y ago
  The anti-circumvention laws are definitely vague enough to prohibit this (as well as most other access of remove resources). It's not at all covered by the DMCA though, right?
  - eli 13y ago
    Not sure what you mean... that is a quote from the DMCA.

tsaoutourpants 13y ago

While I can see a colorable argument that under DMCA this is illegal (circumventing a copyright protection), I think that the argument that there are a variety of reasons a user could change to a different DNS server, and relying on DNS to identify the location of users is an inherently incomplete copyright protection, would prevail.

eli 13y ago
IANAL, but I think that's terrible advice. The DMCA doesn't say your copyright protection scheme has to be airtight or even very good. The blog post is specifically about circumventing the NFL's copyright control technology.

edlebert 13y ago

It is not RIGHT. The NFL has the _right_ to sell their content however they like, and they coordinate their blackout rules with the cable channels who pay for them. If you don't like it, the RIGHT action is to pay for cable, buy tickets, or do what I do and go without.

jbooth 13y ago
Substitute "how things ought to be" for right. I'd be willing to pay a fair price, say $20/mo to stream NFL games and watch my out-of-market hometown team. I shouldn't have to pay for $100/mo of services I don't want to get access to them. Ideally, the market would be allowing me to purchase the good that I want, in practice, they have contracts that don't allow them to sell it to me. Talking about "right" in regards to copyright law is a bit sticky given that the entire legal underpinning is 'how long ago do we have to extend it to keep Mickey Mouse in ABC/Disney's IP portfolio".
- koryteg 13y ago
  i know this doesnt help everyone out. but if you have verizon, you can pay $5 a month for mobile streaming most of (if not all) the games. plus if you have an appleTV you can airplay them over to your actual TV. this works well enough for me.
  - dhimes 13y ago
    I still can't get them on my 65" TV though- and I would pay for it. I just don't want to have to get satellite.
jayd16 13y ago
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
criley2 13y ago
I'm on the fence here. The NFL is not HBO. They're not locking down content and forcing you into old business models to get to their content. The NFL goes to GREAT LENGTHS to make content available to you without cheating. GREAT LENGTHS. * Sunday Ticket is free for DirecTV users * Sunday Ticket is $40/season with the purchase of $60 Madden 25 (meaning, $100/total for the whole season of Sunday Ticket), and does not require a cable/satellite package of any kind * NFL Rewind offers all games and condensed games next-day (not live) for $40/season (or $10/mo) * HDTV Bunny Ears or Aereo will provide local in-market games for free (or the cost of Aereo) * Many games are broadcast online for free on NFL.com or through the website of the network showing the game, like Fox or CBS And I'm sure there are other options, too. My friends and I are discussing the NFL Rewind option, while it's not live, it does include condensed games which is great for fantasy players with lots of players across lots of teams.

lelandbatey 13y ago

Just so people who are just showing up understand: The title of this post was originally along the lines of "Avoid NFL blackouts online for just $2/month using domain-specific DNS resolution". That's what this comment is addressing.