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by lucumo 6229 days ago
SourceForge has removed the homepage of the program, but Yahoo still has a cached copy[1].

From the page: "A small dumper for media content streamed over the RTMP protocol. Supplying an rtmp url will result in a dumped flv file, which can be played/transcoded using ffmpeg/mplayer, etc. Download scripts for BBC's iPlayer and hulu.com streams are included."

It seems like they chose to describe it as an infringement tool that can be used for other things (debugging?) as well.

[1] http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=rtmpdump&...
2 comments
DarkShikari 6229 days ago
Are you implying that it is somehow illegal or "infringing" to dump a data stream being sent to your computer to a file?

I cannot imagine what insane logic could lead to such a conclusion. If we were using this logic 20 years ago, VHS recorders would have been deemed illegal.

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lucumo 6229 days ago
> Are you implying that it is somehow illegal or "infringing" to dump a data stream being sent to your computer to a file?

No, what I'm saying is that if you write a script to dump Hulu.com files and advertise it on the main page of your project as a main feature of how you can use it, you really shouldn't be surprised that people think the main use of your program is to infringe.

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DarkShikari 6228 days ago
Again, how is that infringement?

They are sending you data. You have the right to put it in a file. That is not infringement.

If you aren't legally allowed to put it in a file, they weren't allowed to send it to you, so Hulu is infringing, not you.

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csbrooks 6228 days ago
What's legal, especially under the DMCA, isn't defined by what you feel is common sense, unfortunately.
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DarkShikari 6224 days ago
Indeed, it's not defined by common sense or (thank god) what you "feel is right": it's defined by the law, which doesn't agree with such absurd concepts as it being illegal to save data onto a disk.

Even the DMCA doesn't prevent that: it prevents bypassing certain types of copy protection schemes. By your logic, the DMCA makes it illegal to dump a DVD to your hard disc, which is categorically false: it is only illegal to break the CSS encryption, not to dump the data. It is also not illegal to dump the video data after it has left the decoder.

I suggest you do more reading on the legal system and its precedents (particularly Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.) before you attempt to comment on it.

Of course, this all applies to the US. Your mileage may vary in other countries.

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amalcon 6229 days ago
I'd just as soon they admit what the tool is for. Does anyone really long for the days when everything had 'For educational purposes only' written on it?

That is to say, I find no problem with the tool itself. I have had occasions where it would be helpful to legitimately use something like it for debugging. My concern is with the legal system that encourages them to lie about why they built it.

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