https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24872911
https://old.reddit.com/r/youtubedl/comments/jgttnc/youtubedl_github_repository_disabled_due_to_a/
https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2020/10/2020-10-23-RIAA.md
Now when you go to their site, it reads:
Repository unavailable due to DMCA takedown.
This repository is currently disabled due to a DMCA takedown notice. We have disabled public access to the repository. The notice has been publicly posted.
If you are the repository owner, and you believe that your repository was disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification, you have the right to file a counter notice and have the repository reinstated. Our help articles provide more details on our DMCA takedown policy and how to file a counter notice. If you have any questions about the process or the risks in filing a counter notice, we suggest that you consult with a lawyer.
Also at 9to5Google
[2020-10-25 01:01:09 UTC: Updated title to more accurately reflect notice was given to GitHub, not to youtube-dl. --martyb]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Subsentient on Saturday October 24 2020, @05:23AM (8 children)
Well that figures. I've used it for downloading my own videos on YouTube from time to time to back them up, since I often stream my Warzone 2100 games directly to YouTube rather than pre-record them. Now that tool is gone, lovely. Right now, youtube-dl is in the Fedora repos, you know, a distro that insists on no legal dubiousness for code in their repos. I imagine it will be pulled soon. Wtf were they thinking, putting copyrighted videos as examples in the readme? How did they not see this coming back to rape them in the asshole? Whoever did that has singlehandedly destroyed this project.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 5, Insightful) by canopic jug on Saturday October 24 2020, @06:23AM (1 child)
Just to nitpick, it's not illegal to download copyrighted material if the copyrighted material's owner grants permission. That's the whole premise behind Free and Open Source Software, Creative Commons, and Open Access. However, those are also intentional collateral damage in these actions. Furthermore, in some countries it is determined to be legal to download copyrighted material even if the owner objects as long as their is no redistribution and it is for personal use.
The real risk is that the data stream is encoded in triple-ROT13 or some similarly strong DRM. Then "breaking" that DRM will be considered a felony circumvention. Not too long ago corporations were pushing to have EULAs considered as legally binding. That failed, but now they can put in farsical technical countermeasures and then when kids walk around the flimsy barriers, pile on enough felony charges to bankrupt them into accepting a plea "deal" and thus reinforcing the situation with the precedent of a confession + conviction. It's a way of making corporate policy law without needing either further bribes to legislators, additional time, or fighting pushback from the one or two enlighted people following the politicians' activities.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Tuesday October 27 2020, @03:36AM
Nah it's encoded in double ROT13.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 3, Insightful) by loonycyborg on Saturday October 24 2020, @06:35AM (3 children)
That's what RPMFusion is for. This situation won't be an end to this tool, far from it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Subsentient on Saturday October 24 2020, @08:39AM (2 children)
It will be an end to the tool's legitimacy, and it will not only taint any forks, but almost as severely taint any project that attempts to directly replicate this functionality
. Before, youtube-dl had a certain legal credibility, and that has now evaporated, making it a liability for anyone who deals with it.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Saturday October 24 2020, @09:45AM
It will not affect its legitimacy in the slightest since all people who use it already know that copyright law as understood by RIAA and their workflows are in irreconcilable clash already. And I don't think that this takedown will actually legally hold in case if a counter-notice will be sent.
(Score: 2) by Deeo Kain on Saturday October 24 2020, @09:06PM
It would only evaporate if a judge ruled in favour of RIAA.
(Score: 4, Informative) by fakefuck39 on Saturday October 24 2020, @07:33AM (1 child)
nothing's gone. the git repository hosted by the 3rd party is gone. youtube-dl is still around, still downloadable from their website (which is youtube-dl.org, not fuckhub). who gives a crab what's on github. having a popular project removed from github is a loss for github, not youtube-dl or anyone else. there are a thousand other code management suites.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2020, @12:54PM
Oh jeez, you're in every subtree of the comments repeating this drivel :(
ytdl's home page offers two links: 1 - their full development tree, with source control metadata and everything (a link to their github project, now censored), and 2. a snapshot thereof, in the form of a "release tarball", directly from their site.
If all you have is the snapshot, you're dead but just don't know it yet -- that snapshot will bitrot, and will be made useless by google screwing around with their site. Unless a reputable clone of their git repo will pop up somewhere soon, having their latest snapshot won't do anyone much good.