[mythtv] mythmovie grabber issue (ToS)

Stuart Morgan stuart at tase.co.uk
Thu Jan 15 16:28:30 UTC 2009


On Thursday 15 January 2009 16:00:17 Matt S. wrote:
> So - how (where) exactly does Boxee get all this data that doesn't
> violate any Terms of Service and why can't myth do the same?  I keep
> seeing all these other cool apps that gather metadata for movies,
> videos, CDs, showtimes, weather, etc, and all of them can only get it
> a couple of different ways:
>
> 1) Find a place that provides an open service to get the data from

Which is exactly what we, and other applications like XBMC, Boxee, Meedio and 
Media Portal are doing. They are all starting to switch to legit sources such 
as themoviedb.org, thetvdb.org etc (at least where such a service exists).

> I understand why myth is trying to stay on the "right side" of the
> argument here, but there are a lot of other apps (even FOSS apps) that
> get this data some how.  Some of them are getting extremely popular -
> so why not follow in their footsteps and do whatever it is their doing
> that works for them?

Everyone else shoplifts, so I should too?

When they are sued, I suppose all their users will chip in to pay the legal 
bills? Or more likely they'll scatter in every direction.

> Also - to play devil's advocate - has any site/service/etc ever
> complained to myth about ToS issues?  Did IMDB ever notice myth users
> retrieving data and ask for that to be removed?

They noticed and anyone using the IMDB grabbers for mythvideo can tell you 
that. In addition to multiple layout changes designed to make scrapping 
harder, they started serving extremely low quality, low res posters to 
requests originating from scrappers.

IMDB were approached several times for their permission, each time they 
refused.
-- 
Stuart Morgan


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