Is it illegal to watch movies online?

Marty_J

Soubrette wrote: »

Hypothetically speaking if we assuming that only a 5 minute buffer is kept on your computer (for argument sake) - with the rest being automatically overwritten as you watch the film, would this still be an infringement of copyright?

Five minutes of copyrighted material is still five minutes of copyrighted material. I'm not aware there's a defined length that doesn't fall under copyright.

Even if there's a short clip of something in a TV show or movie, I always see the copyright information and the notice that it's used with permission.

As an example, there's the Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films case in the US, where the use of a 2 second guitar chord (which was heavily altered) from another song was ultimately ruled as being a breach of copyright.

Millionaire

I think there has been a mix up in the terminology used to describe the delivery of media.

I think the correct terminology for how films are delivered is called 'Progressive downloads' and not streaming. Streaming tends to be more for delivering media for live events.

HTTP Progressive Download versus Streaming Media

"The end user experience is similar to streaming media, however the digital file is downloaded to a physical drive on the end user's device, the digital file is typically stored in the temp folder of the associated web browser if the digital media was embedded into a web page or is diverted to a storage directory that is set in the preferences of the media player used for playback. The digital media file will stutter or stop play back if the rate of play back exceeds the rate at which the file is downloaded. The file will begin to play again after further download.


HTTP Progressive download opens digital media to piracy in that it can be saved and shared by the end user. Due to this unrestricted access to the digital media file, entities concerned with piracy and security of their data opt for streaming based solutions that create a small buffer in order to initiate playback; however at no time during a streaming media session is the entire file downloaded locally as it is in the Progressive download scenario."

System

Funny how no-one complains about the masses of !!!!!! available to stream on sites not dissimilar to youtube...surely some of them must be illegal rips of dvds etc?

Marty_J

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

Funny how no-one complains about the masses of !!!!!! available to stream on sites not dissimilar to youtube...surely some of them must be illegal rips of dvds etc?

You seem to know more about it than we do.

Marty_J

Another example hot off the press:

Music Publishers and Writers Lobbying Congress for Additional Compensation for Digital Distribution - MacRumors

The music industry want payment from Apple for the 30 second preview clips available in iTunes.

It's pretty pathetic that the music industry's attempts to profit from their own product under their own steam have proven so cack-handedly inept that they're reduced to trying to suck more money out of those who have made a success of it, but I guess that's another topic.

mr_fishbulb

Marty_J wrote: »

Another example hot off the press:

Music Publishers and Writers Lobbying Congress for Additional Compensation for Digital Distribution - MacRumors

The music industry want payment from Apple for the 30 second preview clips available in iTunes.

It's pretty pathetic that the music industry's attempts to profit from their own product under their own steam have proven so cack-handedly inept that they're reduced to trying to suck more money out of those who have made a success of it, but I guess that's another topic.

That's like a company charging ITV to show their adverts!

Luis_Torres

Pirated movies Streaming is illegal as you are technically downloading.

mr_fishbulb

Luis_Torres wrote: »

Pirated movies Streaming is illegal as you are technically downloading.

There you go ladies and gentlemen. Nine pages of discussion and we have come up with a definitive answer.

wazza

Luis_Torres wrote: »

Pirated movies Streaming is illegal as you are technically downloading.

Thanks for answering my question with a simple answer :rotfl:

marleyboy

Eventually the movie industry will latch on to the idea of streaming movies, lots of streaming sites are freely available, some legally.

The majority are not legal, its not the "streaming" that is illegal, its what is being "streamed" and its quite simple to find almost any movie online.

Is watching an illegal copy of a movie legal? Of course not, whether its streamed, downloaded or burned on a dvd, its still illegal to watch.

Of course this wont stop it being watched by thousands of users, simply because it is readily available (just as available as !!!!!!, music, snuff and even tips for terrorists).

BBC Iplayer is no different when it comes to streaming, except what it "streams" is legally available, the same applies to youtube and a various array of other legal "streaming" sites.

Technically speaking Pay per View is no different on your Sky or Virgin box, or your "catchup" channels. Eventually Hollywood blockbusters will be legally available online (maybe via a Pay per service). But until technology can block the illegal movies, music, games and software industry, it will remain a constant battle. You can still buy "chipped" Sky boxes which are just as illegal, but still get sold.

Lots of people have downloaded perfectly legal software to enable them to convert CD to MP3 format, it does not however make the conversion legal, but it does not stop people converting their CD's to play on their MP3 players. We can legally buy a DVD burner and NERO to copy a DVD successfully, but it is still illegal to copy a copyrighted DVD movie.

Downloading and streaming is no different on the same principle, the technology is their to be used legally, but its still illegal for the user to breach any copyright.