Is it illegal to watch movies online?

davester

well youtube pay for a subscription to show it, thats why they try to delete all the members that post other peoples work.

devizes18193

is it illegal probably yes . Will you get caught, maybe not .Unless that is the streaming site keeps a record of ip address and then have to provide it to a government agency. Like any thing its a risk

[Deleted User]

davester wrote: »

But if leveryone was streaming it without paying for it the record company would have less money to invest in these bands to continue making their music, so you wouldn't have your concert to go to, nor give your custom to the hotel or resturants.

Labels getting less money from sales means artists start to lose revenue frokm touring in order to cover advances and other contractual obligations they have towards their label. Just because some greedy twonk thinks it's ok to steal all they can shouldn't stifle the quality of music that is capable of being produced because it is not viable for the artist to make any money to live off from their own work.

michaelro wrote: »

If prices came down (Video / Music) and the people at the top got paid a more realistic wage, then dowloading / streaming would disappear overnight.

It wouldn't. The mentality of the majority of people who engage in piracy is not that of a protest but being greedy and selfish. You'll have a hard time convincing somebody of that ilk to go from getting things for free to parting with their own money.

davester

you have to convince them that paying is the only way. Getting it free illegally will cost them more than legal
which right now it doesnt.

mr_fishbulb

devizes18193 wrote: »

is it illegal probably yes . Will you get caught, maybe not .Unless that is the streaming site keeps a record of ip address and then have to provide it to a government agency. Like any thing its a risk

Only if the court who ordered the website disclose the IP addresses has the authority in the country where the site is hosted.

mr_fishbulb

wazza wrote: »

I would agree that if you download unpaid for movies onto hard drive and/or make DVDs then that is illegal. I was just unclear about watching it online.

UK Copyright law makes it an offence to:

Copy the work.
Rent, lend or issue copies of the work to the public.
Perform, broadcast or show the work in public.
Adapt the work.

(See section 7 here - http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law)

By streaming the film, you are still making a copy of it (albeit temporarily and you may never have a complete copy).

sporedude

There are many wonderfull programs that stop you from getting caught...PeerGuardian2 is one of them.

jaydeeuk1

davester wrote: »

But if everyone was streaming it without paying for it the record company would have less money to invest in these bands to continue making their music, so you wouldn't have your concert to go to

Considering some of the crap around nowadays that is considered music, I can only see the above as a good thing

In short, the copyright laws are outdated, but no one yet seems to have a good idea on how to improve it. Consumers want one thing, music corps and TV execs want something different.

mrmitchell78

There are sites that allow you to download DVD rips of every major movie out at the moment - you can also download camcorder versions of current cinema releases, play them on your pc at a later date and/or wirelessly route them through an xbox 360 to play on your home TV. All of this is illegal.

Technically, you could be infringing copyright by copying a CD onto your computer to be moved onto a MP3 player as the copyright holder has not given permission for this to happen.

However, it has been happening for a long time - a Bob Dylan in the mid 60's was bootlegged. Who (in the era of cassettes) didn't tape the top 40 on Sundays? Or at least tape their favourite song so there was 5 seconds of a DJ introducing it? It will happen for a long time to come but the music/film industries have been 7-8 years behind the technologies. As someone who used to work on the anti-piracy side of the music industry, I can safely say that piracy is here to stay.

System

The legality is definetly questionable (a bit like watching tv online without a licence) but if she's only watching the odd film then i highly doubt she's going to get in any trouble. There are bigger fish to fry.