diff --git a/2020/10/2020-10-23-RIAA.md b/2020/10/2020-10-23-RIAA.md deleted file mode 100644 index 45cf1913..00000000 --- a/2020/10/2020-10-23-RIAA.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,118 +0,0 @@ -October 23, 2020 - -GitHub - -Dear Sir or Madam: - -I am contacting you on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. (RIAA) and -its member record companies. The RIAA is a trade association whose member companies -create, manufacture or distribute sound recordings representing approximately eighty-five (85) -percent of all legitimate recorded music consumption in the United States. Under penalty of -perjury, we submit that the RIAA is authorized to act on behalf of its member companies on -matters involving the infringement of their sound recordings, audiovisual works and images, -including enforcing their copyrights and common law rights on the Internet. - -Copyright Violations. We have learned that your service is hosting the youtube-dl source code -on its network at the following locations, among others: - -https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl -https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/tree/gh-pages -http://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/ -https://github.com/benkeung/youtube-dl -https://github.com/cyberjacob/youtube-dl -https://github.com/elaopinska/youtube-dl -[private] -https://github.com/huangciyin/youtube-dl -https://github.com/jckelley/youtube-dl -https://github.com/LouisPlisso/youtube-dl -https://github.com/ojauch/youtube-dl -https://github.com/rbrito/youtube-dl -https://github.com/successLee/youtube-dl -https://github.com/trammel/youtube-dl -https://github.com/vs9390/youtube-dl -https://github.com/zackfern/youtube-dl -https://github.com/tosuch/youtube-dl -https://github.com/pornophage/youtube-dl -https://github.com/tejaskhot/youtube-dl -https://github.com/VideoUtils/youtube-dl -https://github.com/798221028/youtube-dl - -The above list includes a representative sample of the youtube-dl forks of the youtube-dl -source code being hosted on GitHub. Based on our review of the representative sample noted -above, we have a good faith belief that most of the youtube-dl forks are infringing to the same -extent as the parent repository. - -The clear purpose of this source code is to (i) circumvent the technological protection measures -used by authorized streaming services such as YouTube, and (ii) reproduce and distribute music -videos and sound recordings owned by our member companies without authorization for such -use. We note that the source code is described on GitHub as “a command-line program to -download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites.”1 - -We also note that the source -code prominently includes as sample uses of the source code the downloading of copies of our -members’ copyrighted sound recordings and music videos, as noted in Exhibit A hereto. For -example, as shown on Exhibit A, the source code expressly suggests its use to copy and/or -distribute the following copyrighted works owned by our member companies: - -• Icona Pop – I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) [Official Video], owned by Warner Music Group -• Justin Timberlake – Tunnel Vision (Explicit), owned by Sony Music Group -• Taylor Swift – Shake it Off, owned/exclusively licensed by Universal Music Group - -The source code notes that the Icona Pop work identified above is under the YouTube Standard -license, which expressly restricts access to copyrighted works only for streaming on YouTube -and prohibits their further reproduction or distribution without consent of the copyright owner; -that the Justin Timberlake work identified above is under an additional age protection -identifier; and that the request for the Taylor Swift work identified above is to obtain, without -authorization of the copyright owner or YouTube, an M4A audio file from the audiovisual work -in question. - -We have a good faith belief that this activity is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, -or the law. We assert that the information in this notification is accurate, based upon the data -available to us. - -Anticircumvention Violation. We also note that the provision or trafficking of the source code -violates 17 USC §§1201(a)(2) and 1201(b)(1). The source code is a technology primarily -designed or produced for the purpose of, and marketed for, circumventing a technological -measure that effectively controls access to copyrighted sound recordings on YouTube, including -copyrighted sound recordings owned by our members. For further context, please see the -attached court decision from the Hamburg Regional Court that describes the technological -measure at issue (known as YouTube’s “rolling cipher”), and the court’s determination that the -technology employed by YouTube is an effective technical measure within the meaning of EU - -1 -See https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#readme. - -and German law, which is materially identical to Title 17 U.S.C. §1201 of the United States -Code. The court further determined that the service at issue in that case unlawfully -circumvented YouTube’s rolling cipher technical protection measure.2 -The youtube-dl source code functions in a manner essentially identical to the service at issue in -the Hamburg Regional Court decision. As there, the youtube-dl source code available on -Github (which is the subject of this notice) circumvents YouTube’s rolling cipher to gain -unauthorized access to copyrighted audio files, in violation of YouTube’s express terms of -service,3 and in plain violation of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. -§1201. - -Indeed, the comments in the youtube-dl source code make clear that the source code was -designed and is marketed for the purpose of circumventing YouTube’s technological measures -to enable unauthorized access to our member’s copyrighted works, and to make unauthorized -copies and distributions thereof: they identify our member’s works, they note that the works -are VEVO videos (virtually all of which are owned by our member companies), they -acknowledge the those works are licensed to YouTube under the YouTube standard license, and -they use those examples in the source code to describe how to obtain unauthorized access to -copies of our members’ works. - -In light of the above noted copyright infringements and anticircumvention violations, we ask -that you immediately take down and disable access to the youtube-dl source code at all of its -locations where it is hosted on GitHub, including without limitation those locations in the -representative list set forth above. - -This e-mail does not constitute a waiver of any right to recover damages incurred by virtue of -any such unauthorized activities, and all such rights as well as claims for other relief are -expressly reserved. - -You may contact me at RIAA, [private] Tel. [private], -or email [private] to discuss this notice. - -Sincerely, -[private] -[private]