Clamp Down on Illegal Links

[Spud in Disguise]

Hi everyone,

It's been brought to my attention that there are several people posting links to illegal file downloads. We will be dealing with individual instances and offenders shortly, but in the mean time please make sure you review our Copyright Material Policy and make sure your posts fall within the rules.

If you have any questions about what is ok to link to or not please get in touch via PM or our contact form.

[n00b Tr00per]

Oops.

[john_marston]

I don't think you're a real fan and therefor shouldn't be on this forum if you illegally download daft punks music (well at least don't share the download links!). Bootlegs and other material you can't get your hands on don't count though, considdering they aren't even released officially.

[Crank729]

I don't think you're a real fan and therefor shouldn't be on this forum if you illegally download daft punks music (well at least don't share the download links!). Bootlegs and other material you can't get your hands on don't count though, considdering they aren't even released officially.

Yeah, that's how I feel too.

[n00b Tr00per]

I don't think you're a real fan and therefor shouldn't be on this forum if you illegally download daft punks music (well at least don't share the download links!). Bootlegs and other material you can't get your hands on don't count though, considdering they aren't even released officially.

I <3 legal purchasing

One thing that I feel is unclear in the implemented "Copyright Material Policy". It states that

...embedding a YouTube video that was uploaded on an artists official channel.

The only area of leniency we will extend is where material is not commercially available, and therefore the artist is not losing out on revenue. An example might be linking to a YouTube video of a live set, that is not available on DVD or as a live album.

It's a highly common practice of the internets to post music on Youtube without being officially associated with the production of the music itself. Is it therefore also not permissible to embed such uploads?

[Fundave]

It's a highly common practice of the internets to post music on Youtube without being officially associated with the production of the music itself. Is it therefore also not permissible to embed such uploads?

Now this is just unrealistic, there is no way that people are going to stop posting unofficial youtube/soundclud links on the internet or this forum. Isn't this basically SOPA put into action?

If the owners of the music have a problem with the song being on an unofficial account, they will get it removed, don't worry about that...

I think you'll be able to get away with this, if not, we're all ****ed and there will be a massive drop in the number of people who visit this site...

By the way i'm not criticizing anybody here, just saying that this expectation is completely unrealistic, if i have infact understood it properly.

[tom2991]

i agree with fundave on this one.
like every other issue, people are starting to get really touchy about online piracy these days; to the point were the boundaries of its definition are pushing to something increasingly sensitive, and we won't know where the law ends and our mere love of sounds and images begins.

i'd bust out the politics, but i'm far too scared that i may get online ass-whoopin'.

[piroteki]

Now this is just unrealistic, there is no way that people are going to stop posting unofficial youtube/soundclud links on the internet or this forum. Isn't this basically SOPA put into action?

If the owners of the music have a problem with the song being on an unofficial account, they will get it removed, don't worry about that...

I think you'll be able to get away with this, if not, we're all ****ed and there will be a massive drop in the number of people who visit this site...

By the way i'm not criticizing anybody here, just saying that this expectation is completely unrealistic, if i have infact understood it properly.

taking off my mod hat for a bit, as a person and individual, i completely agree with you on that, Fundave.

however, putting my mod hat back on, there are some things we don't have much control over. as moderators and administrators, we have to enforce the letter of the law, however stupid some of it may be. yes, there is some SOPA-esque goings on, and that is why we have to be stricter about enforcing this policy.taking my mod hat off again and whispering, there are non-public ways to share if you must. i also think youtube videos are not the primary concern at the moment, rather direct links to sites such as mediafire/etc.

[tom2991]

out of curiosity; say if the spreading of these links were to continue, and authorities caught up on it. what would actually happen, other than the site being taken down? does anything happen to the mods and admins (like, not being able to open another site under your name or whatever), or is it actually just a case where the site closes and that's the bottom line?

... i love how you didn't put your mod hat back on. ;]

[piroteki]

out of curiosity; say if the spreading of these links were to continue, and authorities caught up on it. what would actually happen, other than the site being taken down? does anything happen to the mods and admins (like, not being able to open another site under your name or whatever), or is it actually just a case where the site closes and that's the bottom line?

... i love how you didn't put your mod hat back on. ;]

IANAL, but as far as i can tell it doesn't go much further than the site going down or other similar bad-things-but-not-life-changing. however, it would kinda suck, especially for Spud who's put forth likely a good chunk of change (not to mention a large amount of time, as many others have as well) in maintaining the site. however, it's hard to really tell what's going on with things these days, so i suppose there's always the possibility of some sort of legal action... i don't know i'm just sort of speculating i guess. i don't at all suspect that the copyright police is going to send agents to stalk and capture our mods spread out throughout the world, though...oops. forgot about that. *re-hats*