On 3 April 2011 14:02, James Cook <[email protected]> wrote: > Hallo All, > > every since Phil stopped further development of get_iplayer I been > wondering about the legality of developing code for get_iplayer. I > wonder if by uploading patches we are exposing ourselves to possible > legal action.. > > Does anyone else here wonder about this? > Does it depend on the patch? > Should we consider some kind of anonimity?
Yes, I do wonder about it from time to time, but last time I checked the terms and conditions for accessing both the BBC website and BBC iPlayer, I couldn't see anything that *I* was doing that broke those terms. The relevant terms, provided that nobody here is doing this for commercial purposes, are: for general terms of access to BBC content: http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/personal.shtml for iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/additional_iplayer.shtml for the RSS feeds - used for obtaining BBC schedules (and iPlayer content) http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/additional_rss.shtml and for the podcasts: http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/additional_podcast.shtml note that get_iplayer is *not* a "BBC iPlayer Download Application", so none of those terms apply. There are a couple of areas where things *might* get a bit sticky: - use of "iplayer" in the name, and graphics that look like the iPlayer logo - clause 3.2.3(d) of the general terms, specifically -- reverse engineering - whether using the publicly-available interfaces on the BBC website constitutes "reverse engineering" or not, and if it did whether creating and using get_iplayer falls under the terms permitted under the EU directives on interoperability (in my case I argue it does since the BBC choose not to provide a download application which interoperates with my PC which runs linux and xbmc - no, the "linux support" doesn't work because it relies on having a beefy processor to do stuff that xbmc does in the graphics card) -- attempting to breach copyright/helping others to do so (bear in mind that the BBC has permitted UK residents to view the content they provide, so accessing and using that content is not a breach of copyright) Unfortunately you have to read the terms yourself, take your own legal advice - which you won't find here, and make your own decisions about using and/or contributing to get_iplayer. Incidentally, going for anonymity probably won't work technically, and would simply encourage others to infer that you think you're guilty. disclaimer - I am not a lawyer Jon _______________________________________________ get_iplayer mailing list [email protected] http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/get_iplayer
