Streaming Online The E True Hollywood Story
| Autor | Jan André Blackburn Cabrera |
| Páginas | 59-121 |
STREAMING MOVIES ONLINE: THE E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY
JAN ANDRÉ BLACKBURN-CABRERA*
“Most people would probably agree that Google is not a bad company. Google has probably
millions and millions of links to illegal files.”
– Daniel Raimer
ABSTRACT
Online streaming of digital content is on the rise and the legal system’s failure to
eliminate copyright infringing streaming feeds from the Internet has forced Hollywood to
change content distribution practices to an online-based streaming model. Studios and
producers have, arguably, faced a significant loss in revenue to illegal streaming. The
entertainment industry is now facing the same debacle that the music industry faced in
1999 with Napster, namely how to generate revenue from distributing content online.
Advancements in technology allow for live video streaming to a worldwide audience
using a conventional personal computer. The future holds ubiquitous computing, where
everything will be digitally streamed through video. Everyone’s desire to gain access to
streams, in its inception of copyright content as well as in the future of all other types of
content, is imminent. Copyright infringement of digital artistic works is a constant
technological battle for copyright owners, one that has created a market disagreement
between owners and end-users. Just as it happened with music, users want to download
and watch content for free, while copyright owners want to get paid.
Section 2 consists of an analysis of the copyright issues the entertainment industry
is facing due to what can be called ‘illegal streaming’ online feeds and the implications to
both end users and website operators. After having understood the various video-
streaming products available online, the laws applicable to these technological
advancements are provided in order to expose the flaws of the copyright legislations that
should be protecting video-recorded entertainment content in digital format. Section 3
offers a look at the current proposed amendments to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(from now on “DMCA”) and the concern that illegal streaming of content may not be
covered by criminal law. A new federal criminal statute that makes “infringement by
streaming” a felony is unnecessary, difficult to prosecute, and will not eliminate illegal
streaming feeds of entertainment content online.
The entertainment industry’s attempts to enforce the DMCA and attack illegal
streams depicted in section 4, prove that lawsuits have actually increased the number of
streaming feeds and websites, thus creating the opposite effect expected by Hollywood
studios. The U.S. government seizures of alleged infringing websites demonstrate that
copyright laws need to provide agencies and judges with much more guidance so that
enforcement efforts can be both appropriate and constitutional. Alternate ways are
suggested for the industry’s fight against copyright infringement pertaining to streaming
websites that do not involve flawed legislation, unlawful criminal prosecutions or costly
legal fees.
I. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………....62
II. Streaming the infringement……………………………………………………………………………….…67
2.1 Illegal streaming: clearing the air………………………………………………………………...68
2.2 Exemption from infringement: a necessary loophole……...……………………………75
III. Legislative amendments………………………………………………………………………….................82
3.1 Vague regulations: what not to do ……………………………………………………………......83
3.1.1 Commercial Felony Streaming Act……………………………………………………....84
3.1.2 Stop Online Piracy Act…………………………………………………………..……………86
3.1.3 PROTECT-IP Act…………………………………………………………………………………88
3.2 Critics everywhere are raving……………………………………………………………………...92
3.3 Canada saves the day? ……………………………………………………………………...…………96
IV. Hollywood’s takes at copyright ….…………………………………………………………………...……99
4.1 Operation In Our Sites: unfounded prosecutions …………………………………………...101
4.2 Linking legal everywhere……………………………………………………………………………..108
4.3 What the industry could do, instead………………………………………………………………113
V. Conclusion………………………………………...………………………………………..……………………..…..118
VI. Appendix………………………………………………..………..………………………………………….……..…121
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