TLDW; some troll is suing YT-DLP using DMCA 1201 to make ripping tools illegal. If that shit holds in court, it can set a dangerous precedent. OBS Studio can get taken down because it lets you record your screen as it shows copyrighted material, so it could count as “ripping software”.
I’ll start suing people for watching content because their eyes and brains are copying the content to memory.
this is fucking insane.
I’ll stop recording data you send me, when you stop recording data you take from me
unfortunately the suit isn’t against the people doing the recording. it’s against the people writing the software that enables you to record.
that said, I wonder if it’d be possible to then sue meta or google for illegally recording your “content”, aka data, based on 1201.
Wtf. People have been recording tv and media to watch later since the days of the VCR …
Which is why this will fail even if it passes.
It is never impossible to record a screen.
“You wouldn’t download a screen recording”
Clone and fork now folks
I have to update my yt-dl constantly. A clone won’t do shit because YouTube will update.
Someone around the world would pick up the mantle, there are thousands of ctontributors. The point is that the code isn’t lost in the blink of an eye.
Seems like a bit of a jump? Why would this impact screen recorders and stuff like OBS? Those tools can be used for plenty of use cases outside of the one mentioned.
If we treat “ripping” content the same as breaking a digital lock under DMCA-1201 we could see restrictions with screen recording software or worse. Certainly yt-dlp would be the first to go.
It’s speculation though, and the title is quite clickbaity. The lawsuit mentioned merely would set a bad precedent for creators now but could be expanded to be more broad later in efforts to protect intellectual property.
Anyone have a TL;DW or related article?
Content creators can download videos and criticize them, which is well and good, but you can’t just steal the content. You need to be actively pointing flaws or pros, or it isn’t fair use. If this particular lawsuit is won, it’ll set a precedent that enables taking someones channel down simply because the video was downloaded or captured. It would circumvent fair use.
How would this kill screen recorder though?
your screen displays any DMCA protected content, which the copy protection software is circumvented by recording your screen.
the funny thing is, it’s not just software like OBS. this could have implications of something as simple as a phone camera.
could you imagine suing Samsung because they allowed their phone camera to record protected content?
I know I can, because it’s going to happen if this troll sets the precedent.
