[mythtv-users] MythCloud, think bigger think outside the box

Robert McNamara robert.mcnamara at gmail.com
Tue Nov 24 10:46:43 UTC 2009


On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 2:13 AM, Thomas Lloyd <thomaslloyd at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> @beww at beww @ sonofzev at iinet @ jarpublic at gmail
> I have ideas that depending on your set-up, location and equipment
> different sites can run on different profiles adding their spare
> resources to the cloud. So you have lots of storage but not a lot of
> bandwidth to upload you could run the profile of an archive peer. If we
> get clever about how things work one could take one recorded file and
> transmit that to 100's of archive server all at the same time but only
> once. One recorded show could be processed by a hundred servers in
> different locations then the small chunks distrusted. A little bit of
> CPU time and a little bit of bandwidth but it cumulatively add up to
> large amounts.
>

By this theory, if you watched a copyrighted movie by streaming it
from a web site, it would be 100% legal because you don't host any of
it.  It's not.  Both you as the person downloading it (yes, streaming
it is downloading it) and the person who uploaded it have violated
various US statutes, as well as the Terms of Service of pretty much
every cable provider on earth.  You *do not possess* the rights to
distribute this material.  None of us do.

> Also the idea of storage is to have it split on the archive servers, one
> person only ever gets 30 secs or 10% of a file which is considered fair
> use. http://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright/fairuse.phtml#fourfacotrs
> Obviously these chucks will exist over lots of sites but no more than
> the legal amount per server. Like bit torrent but you only host a fair
> amount of it. This is an idea I am not a lawyer.
>

Fair use is *not* a set of rules for getting away with copyright
infringement.  This discussion is *not acceptable* on this list.  You
are not a lawyer.  I strongly suggest you seek the advice of one
before embarking any further on this (ill advised) idea.

> Then if you want to watch it you pull it back together and hey presto if
> that content is illegal not for your country or anything then the user
> is breaking the law not the hosts.

There is no doubt in my mind that this violates the spirit of fair
use, and it *definitely* violates the rules of this mailing list.

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Mailing_List_etiquette#Anything_else_I_should_be_aware_of.3F

Specifically:

"#  Discussion of any topics that may be considered illegal or
questionably legal in any of the areas that MythTV developers and/or
users reside (especially the United States as the mailing lists are
hosted in the United States) is prohibited.

    Do not even mention these things in passing within another discussion.
    This is non-negotiable.
    Making it "hypothetical" does not make it OK.
    These rules are meant to protect the MythTV developers and the
project itself. Even if you feel that your actions are not in
violation of any laws, terms of service, contracts, or rules of
ethics, please consider how an outsider who has not followed the
thread and/or sees only parts of your post out of context and/or who
may live in an area whose laws differ from yours may interpret your
statements. In the past, the MythTV project has already been painted
as just another tool used by file sharers and copyright violators in a
New York Times article entitled, "Steal This Show".
    Prohibited topics include (but are not limited to):

   1.  Discussion of copying and/or distributing video obtained via
MythTV recording
   2. Discussion of acquiring video via any means other than through
recording with MythTV
   3. Discussion of the use of softcam to decrypt encrypted digital broadcasts
   4. Discussion of any means of obtaining programming illegally or
through means which may be a violation of copyright laws or terms of
service "

This violates *multiple* of these tenets.  Seriously.  Not okay, not
up for discussion.  I like my house, I am a myth dev, and I am not
interested if giving it up because someone decides to sue the project
because it enable's someone's illegal idea, and I'm especially not
interested in giving it up to get you more TV.

>
> I am not talking a group of ten servers but a group of 1000's allowing
> for bandwidth to be cleverly used based on geographical location etc
> etc. So if one host decides to use his server for a live video cast and
> his bandwidth drops off from the cloud no big deal.
>

You say "clever," I say "any judge would call it illegal," let's call
the whole thing off.

> The file sharing becomes nothing more than a intelligent p2p system.
> Possibility of geographical location limits to follow content law. A bit
> like BBC iPlayer and Hulu.
>

Except without all the licensed material.

> This is where the law gets fuzzy if your not storing the whole show,
> take youtube for example. Or the data is not in a usable state unless
> whole, there might be a way around it?
>

fuzzy = illegal.

Sadly, I suspect I am about to get shouted down for this post.  THIS
IDEA IS NOT LEGAL.  THIS IDEA IS NOT PERMITTED DISCUSSION ON THIS
LIST.  YOU have nothing to lose from the project getting sued and/or
the authors of the project being help liable for facilitating illegal
activity, *I DO*.

Robert


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