Good question. I wonder if a site could get the same kind of immunity as the Archive.org.
One other thing about the use of "infinite" in this trial -- During the scheduling hearing, the judge repeatedly told Viacom that they couldn't allege "an infinite amount of infringement." Basically Viacom was trying *not* to set a date for the end of the evidence discovery period. Their argument was that the infringement that YouTube was committing was ongoing and therefore it was impossible to determine some end date for it. That may be an astute technical observation but it isn't the way the law works -- the plaintiffs must demonstrate actual, evidence based harm. The judge put this to Viacom several times and their counsel sheepishly acknowledged this limit and picked the farthest possible date to end the evidence discovery period. Though there's a deeper philosophical question, which I think KD was getting towards -- since the files are infinitely copyable (access to the flv files is obfuscated, but not by any means difficult) Viacom's point could be that there is no limit to the amount of infringement YouTube has allowed. This is a technical point that they didn't get near, but would be an interesting argument, though I don't think this judge is going to hear it. The judge, excitingly, is one who seems interested in this question and, more importantly, one who looks to understand the technical issues. This is something, just ask Ray Beckerman, that is not exactly commonplace. Anyway, I'll write a post after this afternoon. F On 10/26/07, Kevin Driscoll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > This email just sparked a big debate in my lab about the use of > "infinite" in this context. > > With the loss of Oink and TV-Links, our distributed libraries of > culture are clearly not safe. Has anyone heard of an effort to > archive or mirror YouTube content? > > I can imagine a script that downloads the .flv's of every result for a > certain search term. > > Fred, can you keep the rest of us updated on the trial? > > Kevin > > > On 10/25/07, Fred Benenson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The google v. viacom trial is having a hearing in NYC tomorrow... check > out > > my FC @ NYU announcement: > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > From: Fred Benenson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Date: Oct 25, 2007 5:51 PM > > Subject: Google v. Viacom Tomorrow > > To: "Free Culture @ NYU's list serv" < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > Free Culture @ NYU, > > So one of the benefits of living in a self-proclaimed democracy is > that at > > least some of the court trials are mostly open to the public. That means > > that when Viacom sues Google for ONE BILLION DOLLARS over YouTube's > > "infinite amount of infringement" we're allowed to sit in on all the > court > > room antics. > > > > I attended the first (and last, as far as I can tell) hearing and it was > a > > scheduling hearing. Despite a stern warning from my lawyer friends that > the > > hearing would be immensely boring, I really enjoyed it. The two sides > ended > > up getting into their arguments in a very inappropriate and entertaining > > way. > > > > Now, I have no idea whether tomorrow will have the same kind of > fireworks, > > but I am certainly intending on being there. There were mostly reporters > and > > lawyers (especially one lawyer who kept on sneering when Google would > say > > stuff like "How are we supposed to take responsibility for an 'infinite > > amount of infringement?'") last time and I felt a little out of place > with a > > t-shirt, so you might consider wearing something nice if you don't want > to > > feel awkward. > > > > Anyway, here's the information: > > > > Google v. Viacom > > 4pm, October 26th 2007 > > Room 21C > > Judge Louis L. Stanton > > United States Courthouse > > 500 Pearl Street > > New York, NY 10007-1312 > > Phone: 212-805-0136 > > If anyone wants to meet up, I'll be outside (or maybe in the lobby if > its > > really going to rain) around 3:30. > > > > > > Best, > > > > Fred Benenson > > President, Free Culture @ NYU > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >
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