9 ms·
I've not used popcorntime and didn't really believe it would work with a smooth experience (and when you've got Netflix why bother?). But this: https://github.
by buro9 12y ago
I've not used popcorntime and didn't really believe it would work with a smooth experience (and when you've got Netflix why bother?).
But this: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2014-07-11-MPAA.md https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2014-07-11-MPAA.m... ... this is great marketing for popcorntime. It shows it working and giving an experience that looks very much like Netflix.
Seems like the MPAA have given popcorntime some free marketing.
Reading the DMCA notice though, does it really apply to a repo of code?
Their argument is that it can access infringed content (but so could a web browser, or network media player, etc) and that MGM vs Grokster means that "the distribution of a product can itself give rise to liability where evidence shows that the distributor intended and encouraged the product to be used to infringe". But if Github can be considered the distributor of the product (rather than just the hosting company for source code) then I'm not sure Github have ever intended or encouraged use of the product to infringe, or indeed whether Github have any interest in the use of code hosted in repositories by them.
Do Github just roll over on DMCA requests? Or will they challenge ones like this where an entity is requesting a takedown even though the code itself contains no infringed content and Github have not encouraged use of the code to infringe?
- laoba 12y ago"and when you've got Netflix why bother?)" Because Netflix takes forever to get the latest movies, and is filled with terrible straight to dvd movies! :)
- opless 12y agoNot only that, is that Netflix (insert country other than the USA here) has a much smaller cache of films and TV shows that disappear and appear seemingly at random and without notice.
- click170 12y agoAnd because Netflix contains wildly different content in different regions. My parents use Netflix and I recently got a request from them to set them up to access US Netflix. I didn't even know they were aware of the difference, but they are, and they're sick of the crap that shows up on our side of the boarder. Not Netflix' fault, and I'm elated that they're pressing the ISP issue, but there are valid concerns about content as well.
- Patrick_Devine 12y agoNetflix adjusts to whatever region you're in, so getting "US Netflix" isn't going to work for your parents. You're going to need to set them up with something like www.unlocator.com which can spoof their region. Once they turn it on it will open up a lot of titles with their existing Netflix account.
- ZoF 12y agoI thought that was implied by his statement.
- Patrick_Devine 12y agoI read it as they wanted a "US Netflix account" which is really no different than having a "UK" or "Canadian" Netflix account. Netflix doesn't make the distinction between where the account is, only where your IP address is located. This is in contrast to a company like Amazon where purchasing something from amazon.ca or amazon.co.uk is much different than buying from amazon.com. I'm not sure how this effects watching Prime when you're traveling, though, and if it's also IP based. At any rate, I don't think the implication is obvious.
- kapilvt 12y agoamz is ip biased, as is google. apple is the only content provider i've found that works traveling abroad (minus vpns/tunnels) as they associate content to account based on cc billing address (though they have terms to indicate otherwise).
- dn2k 12y agoand I'd add that netflix is one of the reasons why Firefox was forced to include the infamous DRM crap..
- patja 12y agoNetflix fails to offer many titles with the full high bitrate DTS-MA audio track that is available via popcorntime. Even for discs (not streaming), popcorntime wins on quality. Netflix claims they are just using the product made available to them since the content publishers issue "rental-only" discs with inferior quality product. Apparently Netflix lacks the buying power to influence the quality of product they can make available to their customers.
- higherpurpose 12y agoAnd Netflix doesn't work as well in 720p or 1080p.
- brownbat 12y agoAnd because there's a lot of stuff missing: http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/films-on-spike-lees-list-of-essentials-that-are-streaming-on-netflix http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/films-on-spike-lees-...
- miopa 12y agoThe source code is clearly not biased towards playing copyrighted content. If this DMCA notice is respected, any bittorrent related project should also be banned.
- thefreeman 12y agoGithub is required to instantly remove infringing repositories when a DMCA request comes in. It is up to the repository owner to file a "Counter Notification" at which point the repository will be reinstated within 10-14 days. https://help.github.com/articles/dmca-takedown-policy#b-counter-notification-policy https://help.github.com/articles/dmca-takedown-policy#b-coun...
- will_hughes 12y ago(Not a lawyer) My understanding is that you can't file a DMCA takedown against content/code that you don't own.
- _ak 12y agoWell, you can, but that would be fraudulent. But whoever you sent the DMCA takedown notice to, it's not their concern and not their duty to check whether you're the rightful copyright holder or not.
- dmd 12y agoDoes this mean that someone could take down all of github by sending (fraudulent) DMCA takedown notices for every single repo (from some fake return address)? And then it would then be incumbent on the users to fight that?
- stefan_kendall3 12y agoYes. But in that case, GitHub would likely fight an obviously fraudulent copyright claim, as it would wreck their business. They're not hurt at all by popcorntime going down.
- derefr 12y agoI don’t know, they seem to be being hurt a bit in the eyes of developers right here in this discussion.
- rmc 12y agoDo Github just roll over on DMCA requests? I believe that's exactly what the DMCA requires that GitHub do. If GH want to continue to get the advantages (for them) of the DMCA (i.e. safe harbour protection), they need to just follow it without question.
- bdz 12y ago>and when you've got Netflix why bother? But PT is pretty awesome if you live in an EU country where Netflix is not available
- noir_lord 12y agoor in the UK where Netflix Lite(TM) (aka the UK version of Netflix) is available. It really is wildly inferior to the US version and I think I'll be cancelling as soon as the GF has finished the few shows she does like on it.
- StavrosK 12y agoIf it's wildly inferior than the stunted US version, it must be pretty much useless. These days, I watch shows on http://ororo.tv/ http://ororo.tv/, but doubt it's very legal.
- GutenYe 12y agoBut PT does not have streaming feature.
- SlashmanX 12y agoYes it does. That's exactly what PT is Source: PT dev
- ekianjo 12y ago> (and when you've got Netflix why bother?). Many countries don't have Netflix yet. Or have crippled versions of it.
- emmett 12y agoThe DMCA doesn't say "use your judgement to decide whether you think a takedown request is valid or not". It says "you must prosecute all syntactically valid takedown requests, and if someone sends invalid ones they can be sued". Most specifically, GitHub has no legal standing to challenge a takedown request. The uploader of the targeted content is the only one who can challenge. There are basically zero places online hosting content from 3rd party entities which do not honor DMCA takedowns. Given the size of copyright violation penalties, ignoring them is tantamount to corporate suicide.
- DannyBee 12y ago"There are basically zero places online hosting content from 3rd party entities which do not honor DMCA takedowns." This is false. I was personally involved in one very large one (190k+ source code projects) where we pushed back on clearly invalid legally (but not syntactically) DMCA requests all the time, such as for trademark violations, or claims for source they didn't own, or ...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- mh- 12y agoand now imagine if that effort had been put into keeping Google Code modern. instead, it was allowed to stagnate while GitHub ate its lunch.
- DannyBee 12y agoI think you missed the point of Google Code. Google Code was not intended to "win". Google Code was intended to provide an alternative the worsening monoculture of Sourceforge, because it was becoming actively harmful to open source. In that, it succeeded wildly. Github does not appear to be a worsening monoculture (though it is, in a lot of ways, a monoculture).
- nawitus 12y ago>There are basically zero places online hosting content from 3rd party entities which do not honor DMCA takedowns Are there zero such places outside the United States?
- masklinn 12y ago> Do Github just roll over on DMCA requests? Github is legally required to do so, if they don't they're legally on the hook. The whole point of DMCA Title 2 (the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act) aka DMCA 512 is to create safe harbour for service providers (protect them from liability), but to claim safe harbor requires: 1. not financially benefiting from infringing activities 2. not be aware of obviously infringing activities before being noticed 3. act expeditiously to remove the purported infringing material upon receiving a notice Point 3 has two clauses: purported infringing material means the service provider must not make any attempt at judging whether the infringement is real, if he does that he becomes liable because he's injected his own judgement in a case previously between the copyright owner and the purported infringer. The first clause has not been tested in courts (for precision), it's generally assumed to mean "under 24h" or at least "as soon as feasible" (e.g. ops may not be available over week-end). The service provider is not supposed to contact anybody before taking material down although he is free to notify the purported infringer before or while taking the content down (as long as takedown remains "expeditious"). Github can challenge a DMCA request, but in that case they lose their safe harbor provision and are on the hook if the DMCA was valid.
- DannyBee 12y ago"DMCA notice is obviously invalid (e.g. misrepresentation cases)" This DMCA notice is obviously invalid, as it is a claim not that the source code identified infringes copyright, but that activities performed by users of a program that is compiled from source code that can be found on github, infringes. It's not even a remote indirect claim. There is nothing about the source code, as source code, that infringes. Just because you can make out a possible copyright claim against someone in court does not mean you can form a valid DMCA notice about it :)
- gamblor956 12y agoYou're missing the point. Under the DMCA, the service provider doesn't get to make that judgment. If it receives a notice that complies with the bare requirements of the law, it must remove the allegedly infringing material, and the user may then challenge the notice as "obviously invalid." Followup after actually reading the law. 17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)(iii) provides that a notice includes "Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity..." Popcorn Time is the subject of infringing activity, and hence this would be a valid takedown notice.
- disastermouse 12y agoI don't think it's just that it can access infringing content. I think it's that it was designed with the sole intent to watch infringing content. When you install and run it, it doesn't appear to have any non-infringing content available. Seems a lot different than saying they could just go after a generic web browser or a media player.
- JetSpiegel 12y agoI think they have a lot of public domain films from archive.org. Not sure, though.
- disastermouse 12y agoIf so, it's not clear how to find those. The program start up with screen after screen of pirated movies and tv shows. But if the PT devs were smart, they'd put it back up as a generic streaming torrent client setup to run public domain videos out of the box.
- newaccountfool 12y ago> smooth experience (and when you've got Netflix why bother?) I had a smooth experience, and Netflix! You've got to be joking the content on Netflix is poor popcorn time has a much better library. Just download it and have a look no wonder you claiming such things if you've never used it.
- Istof 12y agoI have Netflix too and sometimes I download a movie before even checking if it's available on Netflix because there is so many titles missing when you are streaming...