What are the legalities of using a VPN to stream overseas content?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › What are the legalities of using a VPN to stream overseas content?

semigeek

1606 posts

Uber Geek

#97755 20-Feb-2012 09:10

I know lots of people do it, but with the new(ish) copyright act in place now, what are the legalities behind using a VPN to stream content from Hulu, Netflix etc?

i.e. Would you eventually get a copyright infringement notice from your ISP after the content provider - e.g. Hulu contacted them, or are they more concerned with P2P?

itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#583709 20-Feb-2012 09:23

I suspect Hulu etc. are very unlikely to care. They are not the copyright holders of the content either so I dont think this is likely. Also how would they find out? Only if the VPN provider started giving out information. And then it begs the question what would even lead to them doing that? As far as Hulu etc. are concerned they have a legitimate customer, they have no reason to "inspect" you.

On a side note, I saw an advert at the movies with Ian Jones in it 2 days ago going on about copyright, same old message, with a "purchase" button at the end. This kind of advert still infuriates me as I do purchase content as I can but the corporates still have their heads in the sand when it comes to distribution, much of the content just is not available to us!! While I understand that as the owner they have the right to control distribution, equally you must accept that you create a monster in the sense you promote this "stealing" behavior through making access more difficult than just downloading from a file host etc.

DataCraft

173 posts

Master Geek

#583710 20-Feb-2012 09:29

semigeek: I know lots of people do it, but with the new(ish) copyright act in place now, what are the legalities behind using a VPN to stream content from Hulu, Netflix etc?

i.e. Would you eventually get a copyright infringement notice from your ISP after the content provider - e.g. Hulu contacted them, or are they more concerned with P2P?

I guess this would come under Parallel importing law -

A parallel import is a non-counterfeit product imported from another country without the permission of the intellectual property owner.

vexxxboy

4245 posts

Uber Geek

#583713 20-Feb-2012 09:34

the way the law is worded at the moment, you will only get a notice if you download copyrighted material using the P2P protocol, you can download the same file, or watch it from the streaming site and you will be left alone because your not using P2P.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

gjm

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#583717 20-Feb-2012 09:45

its only bad if you get caught :)

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BlueShift

1692 posts

Uber Geek

#583755 20-Feb-2012 10:51

i.e. Would you eventually get a copyright infringement notice from your ISP after the content provider - e.g. Hulu contacted them, or are they more concerned with P2P?

If you are paying for a legit Hulu &/or Netflix account, and simply using the VPN so you can actually access it from NZ, then Hulu or whoever aren't going to complain to anyone - you are a paying customer.

The only ones with any incentive to complain would be Sky or whoever else (most likely Sky) has the local rights to sell access to whatever it is you end up watching. And they should have no idea what you're doing over your internet connection (the P in VPN is for Private).
As someone said above, the rules as they stand cover P2P downloading, which VPN isn't. They also rely on a rights-holder laying a complaint, which they shouldn't, as you'd be paying them.

DataCraft

173 posts

Master Geek

#583782 20-Feb-2012 11:27

From MED website Measures to address piracy and counterfeitingParallel imported goods are sometimes confused with pirated and counterfeit goods.

As noted above, this association is not correct. Parallel imported goods are legitimately manufactured goods that are sourced from an authorised or licensed overseas supplier rather than the owner of the intellectual property right in the importing country. Pirate or counterfeit goods, on the other hand are infringing manufactured goods that are producedwithout the authorisation of the owner of the intellectual property right.

http://www.med.govt.nz/business/intellectual-property/parallel-importing-in-new-zealand/law-reform

http://www.med.govt.nz/business/intellectual-property/parallel-importing-in-new-zealand/parallel-importing-and-piracy-and-counterfeiting

stevenz

2802 posts

Uber Geek

#583980 20-Feb-2012 16:02

Given when the data actually enters the country, it's encrypted and isn't actually the original media until it reaches your computer and decrypted again by the VPN software, are you actually downloading the media, or just random data that magically coalesces into media? (/semiserious)

Downloading over a VPN is still just as legal/illegal as not using one, it just makes it very difficult for anyone to tell what you're downloading. In the unlikely event they catch you, you'd presumably be just as liable.

@KnightNZ