Stream ripping (also called stream recording) is the process of saving
data stream
In connection-oriented communication, a data stream is the transmission of a sequence of digitally encoded coherent signals to convey information. Typically, the transmitted symbols are grouped into a series of packets.
Data streaming has bec ...
s to a file. The process is sometimes referred to as ''destreaming''.
Stream ripping is most often referred in the context of saving audio or video from
streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
websites and services such as
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
outside of the officially-provided means of offline playback (if any) using unsanctioned software and tools. This is often prohibited under each respective website or service's Terms of Use.
Legality
The
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) has taken stances against tools that are, in particular, used to rip content from
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, citing that their use to download music from the website and
convert them to audio formats constitutes a violation of their members' copyrights. The RIAA has targeted various stream ripping websites (including the websites themselves, and listings for them via search engines) under the
anti-circumvention
Anti-circumvention refers to laws which prohibit the circumvention of technological barriers for using a digital good in certain ways which the rightsholders do not wish to allow. The requirement for anti-circumvention laws was globalized in 1996 ...
provisions of the U.S.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...
(DMCA), under its claim that a "rolling cipher" used by YouTube to generate the
URL for the video file itself constitutes a
technical protection measure
Technical may refer to:
* Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle
* Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data
* Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...
, since it is "intended to inhibit direct access to the underlying YouTube video files, thereby preventing or inhibiting the downloading, copying, or distribution of the video files". Unlike the more common forms of takedowns performed under the
Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act
The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) is United States federal law that creates a conditional 'safe harbor' for online service providers (OSP) (a group which includes internet service providers (ISP) and other Inter ...
, there is no scheme of counter-notices for such takedowns. These actions have faced criticism, noting that there are legitimate uses for these services beyond ripping music, such as downloading video content needed to utilize one's right to
fair use
Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
, or explicit rights of reuse (such as
free content licenses) granted by a content creator.
In October 2020, the RIAA similarly issued takedowns to
code hosting service
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous ...
targeting
youtube-dl
youtube-dl is a free and open source download manager for video and audio from YouTube and over 1,000 other video hosting websites. It is released under the Unlicense software license.
As of September 2021, youtube-dl is one of the most starred ...
, an open source tool for similar purposes, also citing circumvention of the aforementioned "rolling cipher", as well as usage examples in its
readme
In software development, a README file contains information about the other files in a directory or archive of computer software. A form of documentation, it is usually a simple plain text file called README, Read Me, READ.ME, README.TXT, R ...
file that "expressly suggests" its use with copyrighted works.
On November 16, 2020, GitHub later reinstated youtube-dl and subsequently released a related blog post with more information on the status of the takedown.
On February 9, 2023, Github and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed Amicus Curiae contesting the ruling against a stream ripping service, Yout, concerning that the ruling could render many software that add features or customize user experience as a circumvention violation, and arguing that lacking features such as a download button is not a technical protection measure because youtube allowed any browser to access its videos including browsers that
allow users to customize them.
See also
*
Comparison of YouTube downloaders
Comparison or comparing is the act of evaluating two or more things by determining the relevant, comparable characteristics of each thing, and then determining which characteristics of each are similar to the other, which are different, and t ...
*
Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty
The World Intellectual Property Organization's Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty or the Broadcast Treaty is a proposed treaty designed to afford broadcasters some control and copyright-like control over the content of ...
References
External links
*
StreamRecorder.NET
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stream Recorder
Digital television
Film and video technology
Internet broadcasting
Internet radio
Streaming television
Ripping
Streaming media systems
Video on demand