Comment on Is a video streaming co-op a useful idea?
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
A: In the US at least, it’s illegal to stream movies you don’t own or don’t have the license to stream. By participating in the co-op, when you stream a movie, ownership of that physical media and the digital copy is temporarily transferred to you.
Is it illegal to stream or is it just illegal to upload files?
Also how does ownership transfer to the user and how are they streaming physical, DRM-protected media? I would think it was the distribution company who determines who gets licenses not a coop that just happens to own a copy of the movie.
I’m not sure I see the difference between this and you just giving your friends and family access to your Plex/Jellyfin server. It seems like the same thing but with more self-imposed hoops to jump through that don’t really change the legality of anything, but IANAL.
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 4 days ago
The ownership transfer of the media is crucial. If I just give you access to my Plex, and you watch a movie that I own, that’s theft. If you have your own Plex, and watch a movie that you own the physical media of, that’s legal.
All I’m doing is hosting and storing the physical media you own and the digital copy of that. Only you can access it. Only you can stream it. It’s still yours.
And when you want to watch something else, you trade that physical media for someone else’s physical media. A one-for-one swap. Now you can stream the new physical media you own.