Can I stream videos legally...???

Angela68

Hi!
I have just spoken with a friend who tells me that it is not illegal to stream movies. She said that it is illegal to download, but not to watch alone, and live. Can someone please tell me where I stand as I dont want to commit an offence.
Thank you.

lucylucky

If the movies are available legally, as some are on the iplayer for example, then you can stream them (and download them)

However viewing copyright material without permission is still not allowed.

F_T_Buyer

I would say it is illegal to stream them, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a similar thing to Spotify (music) to get round the law.

robt_2

F_T_Buyer wrote: »

I would say it is illegal to stream them, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a similar thing to Spotify (music) to get round the law.

Spotify isn't 'getting around' anything, it is a commercial service, paid for with adverts or a paid membership.

F_T_Buyer

robt wrote: »

Spotify isn't 'getting around' anything, it is a commercial service, paid for with adverts or a paid membership.

Yes, but the user doesn't buy a licence to own the music - only spotify buys this license, then lets users listen to music for free (as they don't own the music) but has adverts to support their service. I am not saying there is any wrong doing at all.

There could be a similar situation for movies, although I very much doubt it. E.g. there is one for tv programs e.g. Iplayer et al.

hackedoffagain_2

Angela68 wrote: »

She said that it is illegal to download

There is nothing in english or scots law that states downloading is illegal. Distribution is illegal, so the uploading of the movie would be illegal. Thats why P2P users can be prosecuted.

Copying the downloaded movie to a disk could be seen as copyright infringement, but thats a whole different ballgame if its not done as part of distribution.

If the stream content uses P2P (so not only as you watching, but also uploading), then the copyright holder, whether its sky or who-ever, would not be too happy.

kwikbreaks

Is this a moral question or a legal question?

If it's a moral question then no you shouldn't watch copyrighted material without the copyright owners permission which usually involves parting with some money.

If it's a legal question then the chances of getting caught (at the moment) are virtually nil.

JJ_Egan

The usual path is that the sites that stream video /TV without a copyright licence get taken down .

jje