Website link legalities

Forums › Online streaming services › Website link legalities

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#237848 20-Jun-2018 17:26

Can someone either point me in the direction of the information or provide it.

Is it allowed, in an article to refer by link to a torrent site? Say like rarbg. I ask as its well documented that illegal media abounds on some torrent sites.

I have no real idea of the rules and regs regarding referencing such sites. I mean I would think it obvious that, to say display a image of the latest movie and a link directly to the torrent would be illegal. I just wonder if by just linking to the site one could get in trouble with the powers that be!

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2638
Inactive user

#2041256 20-Jun-2018 17:28

I just don't know why you would do that for any legitimate purpose ???

chewster

127 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 77

Trusted

#2041287 20-Jun-2018 18:22

I'm no lawyer but... (you should ask one)

Was my understanding that copyright law is treated as a civil suit in NZ, not a criminal one. So I don't think it's illegal in NZ, it's case by case and the judge would decide after you get taken to court by the rights holder.

Also depends on what your linking to.. is it copyrighted or copyrightable in NZ? Is the hosting/domain NZ based?

If US based then DMCA is a criminal thing IIRC, and you could get done for it pretty easily.

If my post helped you, consider my referrals (: Sharesies $5 referral code, Skinny 4GB buddy code, Contact Energy $100 promo code

gzt

18679 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7809

Lifetime subscriber

#2041314 20-Jun-2018 19:46

If you search Google for 'popular_movie_name torrent' you get results like:

In response to a complaint that we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at LumenDatabase.org.

Lias

5655 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3978

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2041370 20-Jun-2018 21:33

Thankfully we don't (yet) live in a country where media companies control the government, because I personally find the entire idea of merely linking to content being illegal to be utterly repugnant.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#2041414 20-Jun-2018 21:52

Hmmm ok interesting responses.

So the medium article I write was going to have the line in it something like

In New Zealand one can can go directly to such sites as rarbg (this would have a link to rarbg to show the ease of access) as you can see, however in the UK you would return the response of (Screen shot depicting blocking by the government).

You see nothing nefarious going on here! or even being suggested.

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2041677 21-Jun-2018 13:33

Some websites say if you watch a movie online but don't download it i.e put a copy on your computer that's not tecchnically illegal in NZ but is if you download a copy of it. Perhaps someone can clarify if this is true?

Oh no, not another end of the world prediction

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

blackjack17

1713 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 865

#2041732 21-Jun-2018 14:35

geek4me: Some websites say if you watch a movie online but don't download it i.e put a copy on your computer that's not tecchnically illegal in NZ but is if you download a copy of it. Perhaps someone can clarify if this is true?

I don't see how this could be true, because even if you don't "download" it as a file you still need to download the data to see the movie.

Electric kiwi signup credit Sharesies credit

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2041751 21-Jun-2018 15:01

YouTube has plenty of movies that are watched live. Admittedly many are poor quality. But if you watch them you're breaking NZ law? We have more criminals in NZ than I thought. No wonder we need new jails. It may require a court case to decide the matter.

Oh no, not another end of the world prediction

tchart

2396 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 577

ID Verified

Trusted

#2041758 21-Jun-2018 15:22

blackjack17:

geek4me: Some websites say if you watch a movie online but don't download it i.e put a copy on your computer that's not tecchnically illegal in NZ but is if you download a copy of it. Perhaps someone can clarify if this is true?

I don't see how this could be true, because even if you don't "download" it as a file you still need to download the data to see the movie.

Streaming != file sharing - AFAIK the copyright law changes were for file sharing hence it doesnt apply to streaming.

Another perculiarity AFAIK is that connections over mobile data are specifically excluded ie you can torrent over mobile without fear of prosecution.

sen8or

1897 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1402

#2041839 21-Jun-2018 16:47

Interestingly a quick google search of NZ Copyright Law claims brings up just the one case of the law being applied in NZ which is more than 5 years old now. I would guess with the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Pandora, Google Play etc etc, the "need" to download songs and albums is largely eliminated.

The movie industry is still somewhat behind the music industry, trying desperately to cling on to regional pricing models and protecting their premium product (movie experience) when the barriers do little other than to drive people to find workarounds (DNS / VPN access to bypass geoblocks or out and out downloading of an unauthorized copy).

I have mentioned elsewhere on this forum previously about the movie industries reluctance (refusal) to pay to have notices issued for breaches of copyright works. I have been out of the industry for 4 years now, so it is quite possible that the position has changed, but if so I would have expected to see more cases of movie sharing prosecutions within the first few pages from Google.

As for your article, best to get an IP lawyer to actually check over the legalities of linking to pirated content, it "could" breach the divide between being informative about how easy it is to find and enabling / aiding in the distribution of copyright material.