QUESTION

Is watching TV for free on Tv-o.org legal?

Asked on Dec 05th, 2016 on Entertainment Law - California
More details to this question:
N/A
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1 ANSWER

Susan Marie Basko
My best opinion after looking at the DMCA notice on the site is that the site is most likely not legally run. The site claims it is legally run, in a description that is jam-packed with misspellings, incorrect word usage, and legal confusion. The TV-o.org domain is registered in the name of a man with an address in Vienna, Austria. The site claims it is not hosting content, but rather, is indexing, redirecting, or framing materials from other sites. Most other sites have Terms of Service that disallow such usage. Why would any content provider go through all the expense and work of providing and hosting legal content, only to have another site profit from it? It is highly unlikely that the sites he is slurping off of want him doing that. On his DMCA page, he seems to misunderstand almost totally what U.S. Copyright law is about, how notice is given, and whether or not he could be allowed to make the copyright owners of infringed materials jump through hoops. He chastises content owners who want him to stop infringing on their entire body of material, and insists they must report infringement on each URL specifically. He actually thinks a site like Youtube should be forced to report a million URLs, or however many videos are on Youtube. That's not how it works. Youtube can simply file a copyright infringement lawsuit, or perhaps the U.S. government will file criminal copyright infringement charges against him. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed criminal charges before against the owners of websites that index or redirect content from other sites. Whether it is legal or not for you as a viewer to watch this probably depends on where you live. Federal law was proposed to make viewing such things illegal, but I do not think that ever became law. There could still be state laws against it. If you are viewing it outside of the U.S., you should check with your local laws, because it might be illegal. Also, if you download a show or movie that is protected by copyright, and most are, that is copyright infringement and illegal. There may be other dangers besides whether or not it is legal such a site may be prone to containing malware or viruses. Is your computer safe there? There are many sites where you can view videos and TV for free or for a small charge. You are better off viewing videos and shows on sites that have gone to the trouble and expense of making sure their content is offered to you free from any concerns about legality and safety.
Answered on Jan 26th, 2017 at 4:17 AM

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