[vlc-devel] ATTN: removal of website playlist parsers

[Derk-Jan Hartman]

On 15 apr 2009, at 19:36, Rémi Denis-Courmont wrote:
> Le mercredi 15 avril 2009, Derk-Jan Hartman a écrit :
>> 3: We assist our users in violating it (translated from dutch): "You
>> are not permitted to access the content posted by the users in any
>> other way than using the videoplayback-pages of the Website itself,
>> the YouTube-player or any other means explicitly approved by
>> Youtube." [also includes Youtube's own content] and probably we
>> violate several other terms of service.
>
> AFAIK, EUCD and its adaptation in most if not all EU countries,  
> forbids
> software that is essentially meant to infringe on copyrights. At least
> those I vaguely know (French and Finnish) do include this
> legal "feature".
>
> There is a major distinction here. Publishing a media player is legal,
> because _not_all_ performed content is pirated. On the other hand,
> there is no way in hell that the LUA scripts could be used without
> violating the terms of use, and hence infringing copyrights.  
> Publishing
> them is hence piracy.

"no way in hell that LUA scripts could be used without violating the  
terms of use, and hence infringing copyrights"
You cannot infringe on copyrights _because_ you violate the ToS. As  
much as not all content played with VLC is illegal, not all content on  
Youtube will be illegal to republish copyright wise, even though the  
retrieval method will violate the ToS.

1: The script itself breaches the ToS agreed upon by the writer of the  
script
2: The script when used by a VLC user breaches the ToS.
3: The user can republish something retrieved trough the script and  
violate a copyright/license.
4: The user can republish something retrieved trough the script and  
NOT violate a copyright/license (movies in PD, or freely licensed)
5: The user can watch/retrieve something and NOT republish, he does  
NOT violate copyright/license.

1+2: Might cause blocking of VLC at youtube, or "evasions" in the  
HTML. Possibly a "cease distribution" request from Youtube. Not gonna  
land someone in jail or court, unless we ignore/refuse their requests  
flat out.
1: Risk of the original author.
2: If we open the webpage, the user "agrees" to the ToS. problem  
solved, either way, not gonna land a user in jail/court unless done at  
an "excessive" level.
3: Big problem for the user (but that is his own risk); potential EUCD  
issue for us. When it comes down to EUCD, "not all content is pirated"  
and honestly, libdvdcss seems like a bigger threat to me.
4: Really good for everyone, and helps affirm our stance towards the  
freedom our users are entitled to.
5: Really good, because VLC is fast/annoying/open source and  
FlashPlayer is dog slow/annoying/closed source.

As long as we have no system to mass retrieve content from youtube,  
there really should be no problems. If people write such a tool around  
VLC or the script, then they are taking the responsibility. /me  
invites others to reflect on the situation :D

DJ