Just playing devil's advocate and having no experience with this particular situation (as I could not find the link to the example on the news story), I can't help but feel like they are describing almost splog-like behavior.
A site that links to your file, that subsequently pops up in a window launching a player, keeps them on the splog's site and offers up your content as if it is theirs, w/no link to your actual site? Normally I would say a hyplink can't be protected, but a hyperlink to a file only feels almost like pissed I get when I see someone hijack an RSS feed of a podcast and pass it off as their own. Of course, maybe I am misunderstanding this? Robyn From: videoblogging@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of leanbackvids Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 11:37 AM To: videoblogging@yahoogroups.com Subject: [videoblogging] Re: Can't link to Webcast if copyright owner objects "A federal judge in Texas has ruled that it is unlawful to provide a hyperlink to a Webcast if the copyright owner objects to it." Generally speaking, that is bullshit. Hyperlinking on the Internet should not be governed by any court. The article says that supercrosslive.com "had been providing direct links to the live audiocasts of motorcycle racing events." Of course CNN wants a page link because it contains advertising... But direct links should be fine. Anyone should be able to link (not necessarily embed) any file that is public on the Internet. Specifically relating this to RSS, I think it makes "hotlinking" more accepted because there is an inherent intention to syndicate the original content. All this is becoming so common that I doubt the courts will be able to keep up for much longer. I hope the continued development of AJAX-like applications will eventually break down these out-dated laws. Check out this (4-part) article... http://www.andykessler.com/andy_kessler/2006/10/media_2uhoh_in_.html It says "media is about control of a pipe". Thankfully, users are taking and demanding control. Slightly related, also check out Drupal's new "leech" module... http://drupal.org/project/leech -Matt http://vlogmap.org --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com <mailto:videoblogging%40yahoogroups.com> , "Bill Cammack" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > That ruling makes sense. They shouldn't be allowed to link to a live broadcast that > someone else is currently streaming unless that was the goal of the person/group > streaming it. That's like hijacking CNN and feeding it live on your own television station. > You didn't do any of the work or go to any of the expense to make that happen, so there's > no reason your station should have the same functionality as CNN. > > It's the same discussion that's been going on about aggregators. What should they be > able to 'rip' from your site and post without context or notification of reserved rights? Why > should someone go to your site to watch your live feed of XYZ, when they could go to the > aggregator's site and see the exact same thing, as well as a bunch of other live feeds in > the same location? > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com <mailto:videoblogging%40yahoogroups.com> , "Gary Short" <gary@> wrote: > > > > I thought this legal ruling might be of interest to you US based vloggers. > > > > http://www.garyshort.org/?p=462 > > > > Cheers, > > Gary > > > > -- > > Blog: http://www.garyshort.org > > Email: gary@ > > Mob: 07906 958 110 > > MSN: gary@ > > Skype: gary.short > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]