Mashable has reported that Fox has subpoenaed YouTube to find out the identity of a user who uploaded 12 episodes of The Simpsons and 4 episodes of 24. Sites like AllUC rely on people uploading copyrighted material to video sharing sites; and while AllUC seems legal at the moment in most jurisdictions besides Australia, as it only links to episodes, it would ultimately die if nobody was willing to upload videos in the first place on the risk of getting sued.
It is not uncommon for TV networks to provide DMCA notices to video sharing sites demanding they remove TV or movies, however, to my knowledge this is the first time a TV network has been interested in sueing a single user. While the BPI and RIAA sueing P2P users hasn’t really scared them off; sites like YouTube are no doubt easier to police. Pete Cashmore is very keen to reinforce the effort Google (YouTube’s owner) put into protecting the identity of their users.
I think that a much better approach would be for TV networks to upload their episodes to popular (not their own) video sharing sites and serving commercials with them. I’m sure most users wouldn’t mind watching an ad-supported online TV episode. Same goes for music!
alluc is indeed an un-sueable website as it is, because of the notice that tells you that you are leaving; but heres a question for you. If you where to submit many 10 minute (links to) clips that are excerpted frm a movie / tv show, would it still be illigal or just classified as a clip (or somthing like that)? i dont know i am completley hopless wen it comes to legal issues… =P
-paul
Fox can only sue people in the us of a, al lot of uploaders are not American. Maybe there would be less content but it would not die.
yeah, what the hell does fox care? it would be one thing if fox was a cable channel, but its a broadcast station. We get it for free anyway. God forbid we keep up with their show’s plotlines. Maybe they should stop charging so much for tv seasons on dvd. Fox sucks. Thanks for cracker-jack shows like “the winner”…douchebags.
just an update, It looks like fox is shutting down some of the link sites. I went back to old links that I visted before and the sites are gone.
The issue of copyrighted content being shown/played over the internet is here to stay! The sooner broadcasters and production/record company’s realise this, the better. The internet generation has been reared on free information which is what makes the internet great.
The point raised regarding ad supported content is exactly where this issue should be leading!
What annoys me is all this attention really could be focussed on more pressing matters!!!!