youtube-dl removed from GitHub due to DMCA

sanvitsanvit OG
edited October 2020 in Industry News

https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2020/10/2020-10-23-RIAA.md

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]

Thanked by (1)Janevski
«1

Comments

  • Let's torrent it ;)

    Thanked by (1)Janevski
  • edited October 2020

    When are they going to take down the internet? You know peoples are using internet to download copyrighted material.

    Thanked by (2)Janevski bikegremlin
  • frantically checks local pip caches . All good.

  • This doesn't prevent youtube-dl from being hosted somewhere else, but still, wow.

    Even Debian has a package for youtube-dl.

    Thanked by (2)vimalware Dewlance

    "A single swap file or partition may be up to 128 MB in size. [...] [I]f you need 256 MB of swap, you can create two 128-MB swap partitions." (M. Welsh & L. Kaufman, Running Linux, 2e, 1996, p. 49)

  • Saving you a google search for source+binary : https://pypi.org/project/youtube_dl/#files

    Thanked by (3)VPN BlaZe simlev
  • InceptionHostingInceptionHosting Hosting ProviderOG

    So ridiculous.

    Thanked by (4)Janevski wdmg jureve lazyt

    https://inceptionhosting.com
    Please do not use the PM system here for Inception Hosting support issues.

  • Everyone knows music streaming makes almost no money to artists themselves anyways.

    Want free vps ? https://microlxc.net

  • Has GitLab ever had much taken down ?

  • @bibble said:
    Has GitLab ever had much taken down ?

    Indeed, maybe a solution would be Gitlab.

  • I shall reitarate once more, that the entertainment industry, are just street performers.
    If i want i shall watch and if i want to pay and have the money to, i shall pay.
    Otherwise, they're on my road, with their intrusive self advertisements.

    Thanked by (1)bugrakoc
  • MichaelCeeMichaelCee OGServices Provider

    Doesn't YouTube directly offer the option to download videos if you pay them?

    Does it work with music videos, officially or unofficially uploaded? (Not talking YouTube Music) - if so, what the fuck is the point?

    Thanked by (1)Janevski
  • @SmallWeb said:
    Doesn't YouTube directly offer the option to download videos if you pay them?

    Does it work with music videos, officially or unofficially uploaded? (Not talking YouTube Music) - if so, what the fuck is the point?

    It gives you the option to save it on your mobile device (similar to Spotify’s offline listening). You can’t download MP4/WebM/etc. with YouTube premium. And iirc you are also limited to 720p

    Thanked by (1)MichaelCee
  • NeoonNeoon OG
    edited October 2020

    @SmallWeb said:
    Doesn't YouTube directly offer the option to download videos if you pay them?

    Does it work with music videos, officially or unofficially uploaded? (Not talking YouTube Music) - if so, what the fuck is the point?

    Do you really want to pay 11.99$ or 11.99€ for a few downloaded videos or songs per month? I don't.
    Besides, you can use a shady VPN bypass to bring down the price to 1-3€ which I would consider okayish.

    So I rather stick with youtube-dl, put that musica on my phone, can play it in background etc.

    Thanked by (1)MichaelCee
  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent Writer
    edited October 2020

    @sanvit said:

    @SmallWeb said:
    Doesn't YouTube directly offer the option to download videos if you pay them?

    Does it work with music videos, officially or unofficially uploaded? (Not talking YouTube Music) - if so, what the fuck is the point?

    It gives you the option to save it on your mobile device (similar to Spotify’s offline listening). You can’t download MP4/WebM/etc. with YouTube premium. And iirc you are also limite

    Nvm. didnt read.

  • MichaelCeeMichaelCee OGServices Provider

    @sanvit said:

    @SmallWeb said:
    Doesn't YouTube directly offer the option to download videos if you pay them?

    Does it work with music videos, officially or unofficially uploaded? (Not talking YouTube Music) - if so, what the fuck is the point?

    It gives you the option to save it on your mobile device (similar to Spotify’s offline listening). You can’t download MP4/WebM/etc. with YouTube premium. And iirc you are also limited to 720p

    Glad I Googled (ironically) before responding to you with outdated/incorrect knowledge.

    @Neoon said:

    @SmallWeb said:
    Doesn't YouTube directly offer the option to download videos if you pay them?

    Does it work with music videos, officially or unofficially uploaded? (Not talking YouTube Music) - if so, what the fuck is the point?

    Do you really want to pay 11.99$ or 11.99€ for a few downloaded videos or songs per month? I don't.
    Besides, you can use a shady VPN bypass to bring down the price to 1-3€ which I would consider okayish.

    So I rather stick with youtube-dl, put that musica on my phone, can play it in background etc.

    It's not the point really. If my information was correct and you were able to download actual files to your device then YouTube would need a slap on the wrist at the very least for directly contributing to "copyright infringements", not for their licensed contents but for the hundreds of thousands of unlicensed copies floating around. But I was wrong anyway, so..

    Interested to know if it was always the case or if they changed their download function after YT Music launched?

  • @SmallWeb said:
    It's not the point really. If my information was correct and you were able to download actual files to your device then YouTube would need a slap on the wrist at the very least for directly contributing to "copyright infringements", not for their licensed contents but for the hundreds of thousands of unlicensed copies floating around. But I was wrong anyway, so..

    Interested to know if it was always the case or if they changed their download function after YT Music launched?

    Nah, youtube-dl just downloads the files, youtube leaves them public accessible.

  • Why do people want to download videos from Youtube? Free music?

  • edited October 2020

    @angstrom said:
    This doesn't prevent youtube-dl from being hosted somewhere else, but still, wow.

    Even Debian has a package for youtube-dl.

    True! But, if it's going to be a cat and mouse game with the RIAA, there is a chance that these too will disappear
    (At least from official repos.. for a moment, I imagined being forced to get FOSS software sources/packages from a shady warez :D)

    @Kiwi84 said:
    Why do people want to download videos from Youtube? Free music?

    Probably quite a few reasons here, the ones I came up with:
    -Your home connection is shitty and you want to download videos overnight to watch them the next day
    -You want to watch a video on a plane or somewhere else you can't connect to the Internet
    -You are RMS and are uber paranoid about your privacy being invaded

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  • RahulRahul OG
    edited October 2020

    @Kiwi84 said:
    Why do people want to download videos from Youtube? Free music?

    Why stream it every single time when you can fetch it with

    @sanvit said: youtube-dl

    Thus reducing the data usage every single time.

    Also since no DRM, it becomes cross platform friendly like Neoon Said.

    Thanked by (1)vimalware
  • you can also get the source code from gitbackup https://gitbackup.org/#/user/ytdl-org

    Thanked by (3)ehab jureve lentro
  • You know that they had to do this at some point.

    At the same time, if you think about it rationally, this won't change anything at all.

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  • @Kiwi84 said:
    Why do people want to download videos from Youtube? Free music?

    So you can save your favorite videos in case the video is removed from the platform for whatever reason (copyright strike, , cancel culture, etc.)

  • yokowasisyokowasis Services Provider

    @Kiwi84 said:
    Why do people want to download videos from Youtube? Free music?

    For me I can download playlist of something, leave it, and watch it at my leisure times later. I mean there are a lot of great playlist tutorial out there.

  • @CyberneticTitan said:

    @Kiwi84 said:
    Why do people want to download videos from Youtube? Free music?

    So you can save your favorite videos in case the video is removed from the platform for whatever reason (copyright strike, , cancel culture, etc.)

    And don't forget the nasty habit of geo fencing content on youtube.

    Thanked by (1)bikegremlin
  • Geez this is moronic.

    Considering in the notice they explicitly mention songs I guess yt-dl had used them as references in their tests? It probably got flagged by some scraper then fwded to the RIAA lawyers. They have no idea what they're looking at, assume their music is being ripped off and fire off a DMCA notice.

    Kind of a shame as unless they fight this I'm guessing they've lost all of their pull requests and issues but hopefully they'll be able to at least get dev happening under another platform like GitLab.

  • If anyone is missing YouTube-DL...

    https://github.com/github/dmca/tree/416da574ec0df3388f652e44f7fe71b1e3a4701f

    It’s now embedded in the DMCA repo

  • @wdmg said:
    If anyone is missing YouTube-DL...

    https://github.com/github/dmca/tree/416da574ec0df3388f652e44f7fe71b1e3a4701f

    It’s now embedded in the DMCA repo

    I don’t get this. What’s the point of taking it down if this is the case?

  • @sanvit said:

    @wdmg said:
    If anyone is missing YouTube-DL...

    https://github.com/github/dmca/tree/416da574ec0df3388f652e44f7fe71b1e3a4701f

    It’s now embedded in the DMCA repo

    I don’t get this. What’s the point of taking it down if this is the case?

    Someone did a pull request and embedded YouTube-DL’s history into it for the DMCA repo, as a result it’s only findable by commit hash, but it’s embedded

    Thanked by (3)sanvit benj0x whoami
  • @sanvit said:

    @wdmg said:
    If anyone is missing YouTube-DL...

    https://github.com/github/dmca/tree/416da574ec0df3388f652e44f7fe71b1e3a4701f

    It’s now embedded in the DMCA repo

    I don’t get this. What’s the point of taking it down if this is the case?

    The goal is probably to end the development with GitHub as a tool.

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  • @Kiwi84 said:
    Why do people want to download videos from Youtube? Free music?

    No ads ! Play the music locally with no ads :angry:

    No network sometimes.

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