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brian
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Chicago South Burbs, Illinois USA |
| Posts: | 720 |
| First Name: | brian | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | methodist, evangelical, anglican, catholic |
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Posted: Thu Jun 28th, 2007 05:20 pm |
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I know a bit about youtube and obviously what it is supposedly designed for is legal and people are accountable for what they put up on the site. However, if I go there and allow myself to watch something that probably would not have been granted permission to be on there have I stolen? Or should I feel free since it is not my job to judge what material should or should not be up there?
I wanted to make sure if I was interested or not in going to see a certain artist so I debated watching some videos of him to make up my mind. However, I sort of have been against this in the past because I was under the impression that it is basically like stealing the material from someone else or possesing what I am not entitled to posess. or could be. So even if somehow legally this is allowable until it is shut down or changed, have I sinned against my conscience by allowing myself to watch a few minutes of something that normally I would have avoided to be on the safe side? Is youtube actually ok because it is sort of like being at someone's house and watching something since we can do that with computers now and the laws are unclear about these matters? But even then, I think my intent was to get away with something I normally would not allow., and I felt bad after watching a few minutes and stopped when I became sure I did not want to do it, but before I started I kind of already kneew I felt that way, but gave in this time because I wanted more desperately to see something to help my decision. Have I sinned in this case? Because it involves stealing is it a grave matter, or since it was only 2 minutes of material and harmed nobody does that make it simply a very venial matter?
Brian
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David W. Emery
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1714 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Jun 28th, 2007 05:49 pm |
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If I go there and allow myself to watch something that probably would not have been granted permission to be on there have I stolen? Or should I feel free since it is not my job to judge what material should or should not be up there?
You are not responsible for the content that is posted. You are, however, responsible for keeping yourself on the path of righteousness. Legalities are to be observed if there is clear evidence that certain material is in violation of copyright law. But if there is any doubt, you have no moral obligation.
Until the powers that be on the YouTube site remove something for reasons of copyright violation, it appears that there is no a priori way of knowing that a violation has occurred. Furthermore, copyright law contains a clause that provides for what is known as “fair use.” This means that even if some material is copyrighted, short excerpts of it may be used publicly without violating the copyright. In that case, I see no reason to prohibit yourself from using the site to view any short videos.
David
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brian
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Chicago South Burbs, Illinois USA |
| Posts: | 720 |
| First Name: | brian | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | methodist, evangelical, anglican, catholic |
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Posted: Thu Jun 28th, 2007 06:15 pm |
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Interesting.
But what of the matter that I allowed myself to watch a little bit while I still had some idea that it was wrong or at least a gray enough area that I should stay away. Even if I my conscience is poorly informed, does that not still make me guilty if I ignore it? How does sin work in this scenario? Have I sinned even when I do not break any law because I intended to sin or did something against my own conscience? And if in this case it was sinful for that reason, to what extent might it possibly be to? Not that I am asking to judge exactly how sinful it was or was not, but what is possible hypothetically.
Brian
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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 4979 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Thu Jun 28th, 2007 09:07 pm |
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brian wrote: I know a bit about youtube and obviously what it is supposedly designed for is legal and people are accountable for what they put up on the site.
YouTube is extremely well policed. It is safe to assume that anything that's been on YouTube for more than a couple of hours has been thoroughly vetted. There is copyrighted material on YouTube that has been posted intentionally by the copyright holders, so I wouldn't worry about anything on YouTube or corporate web sites such as the network television sites, EWTN, Flikr, Yahoo, MSN, etc.
I can go to a network web site and watch many copyrighted television programs. I can find music videos all over the place. All of these are copyrighted, but they are placed online because they want me to see it. They want you to see it, too.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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brian
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Chicago South Burbs, Illinois USA |
| Posts: | 720 |
| First Name: | brian | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | methodist, evangelical, anglican, catholic |
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 03:01 pm |
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CajunRick wrote: brian wrote: I know a bit about youtube and obviously what it is supposedly designed for is legal and people are accountable for what they put up on the site.
YouTube is extremely well policed. It is safe to assume that anything that's been on YouTube for more than a couple of hours has been thoroughly vetted. There is copyrighted material on YouTube that has been posted intentionally by the copyright holders, so I wouldn't worry about anything on YouTube or corporate web sites such as the network television sites, EWTN, Flikr, Yahoo, MSN, etc.
I can go to a network web site and watch many copyrighted television programs. I can find music videos all over the place. All of these are copyrighted, but they are placed online because they want me to see it. They want you to see it, too.
I still believe there there is a ton of stuff on you tube that should not be on there and users who put it on there who are supposed to consider if they have a right to. It may be policed, but there are probably loads of cases where material is put up and the offended parties probably do not even know that their material is up there. I can watch entire concerts that were probaly illegal to tape let alone make available for free on the internet. From what I can tell there is a lot of illegal content on you tube and that makes me only want to watch things on it that I can tell were put up with permission or willingly by the people responsible for whatever it is.
from wikipedia...
Copyright infringement
YouTube policy does not allow content to be uploaded by anyone not permitted by United States copyright law to do so, and the company frequently removes uploaded infringing content. Nonetheless, a large amount of it continues to be uploaded (eg. Television shows, commercials, music videos, music concerts, clips from a television show or film, M.U.G.E.N, emulator hacks, or games re-published onto another system eg. PSP). Generally, unless the copyright holder reports them, YouTube only discovers these videos via indications within the YouTube community through self-policing. The primary way in which YouTube identifies the content of a video is through the search terms that uploaders associate with clips. Some users have taken to creating alternative words as search terms to be entered when uploading specific type of files (similar to the deliberate misspelling of band names on MP3 filesharing networks). For a short time, members could also report one another. The service offers a flagging feature, intended as a means for reporting questionable content, including that which might constitute copyright infringement. However, the feature can be susceptible to abuse; for a time, some users were flagging other users' original content for copyright violations, purely out of spite. YouTube proceeded to remove copyright infringement from the list of offenses flaggable by members.
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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
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| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Fri Jul 6th, 2007 12:18 am |
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Brian, I am not disputing that there are things on YouTube that shouldn't be there, but that wasn't your original question. What you asked was whether you would be sinning by watching something that, as far as you know, has a legal right to be there. The answer is no. If there is a sin involved, it is on the part of the person who illegally posted the material.
That's not to say that you are blameless if you watch something you know doesn't belong there. For example, it is well known that videos of the Beatles and Elvis Presley in performance are not legally available for free anywhere. (At least, that was the case in the past unless something has changed.) Someone who knowingly watches such videos may indeed bear some culpability. Watching deliberately pirated stuff, like when people smuggle video cameras into theatres on opening day and have DVD's for sale on the street the next day, or DVD's for sale on street corners before they are legitimately released, is definitely theft and definitely sinful.
Remember that intention matters, Brian. If something has remained on YouTube for a significant amount of time (say, more than a few hours), it is reasonable to assume that it is legally posted, and therefore it is reasonable to assume that it's OK to watch it. But if you hurry to watch something that you do believe is illegally posted, you bear some guilt even if it is legal.
If you commit armed robbery but the guy you rob is broke, you still sinned. If you watch something you believe is stolen, you have committed at least a venial sin even if it is legal because your intention is wrong.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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