Legality Question.

[masshuu]

Generally it can be considered illegal to embed you-tube videos when they contain copyrighted music, or tv shows, although the chances of the company going after you is slim to none.

Here is the kicker:

Youtube has a Content Identification system, so videos with content(like music) that is copyright is automatically detected.
So you end up with videos like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZcoQvtNYYs
Which contain advertisements for the song, and a link at the bottom.

Now is it illegal to embed these?
I would fight no. Why? The Content Tagging symbolizes that the Copyright holders acknowledge the song is being used and they allow it. The Copyright holders that hold these songs have allot of power over them, more so than the people who upload them. With a few clicks, they could disable embedding for thousands of videos if they wanted, or even kill the audio track, but they choose to keep it up. They can also disable the video for certain countries if desired.

So whats your view on embedding content from 3rd parties when the copyright holders have power over the embedded material(even if they don't promote or endorse the 3rd party or its material)

[Smith6612]

While I am by no means a person who keeps tabs on the copyright issues of today (which is a giant mess), embedding content that has copyrighted content on your site would be in my eyes legal. As you said, things such as music and content is already tagged by YouTube whether you notice it or not, and if the Copyright holder doesn't want such content up for people to take in, it's a few clicks away. Goes for embedded videos as well (mute the audio on the main site? Embedded player winds up muted as well).

[masshuu]

Well the issue comes when content that isn't identified is embedded, but how can you really tell if content is identified or not. The Content holders may still have the content identified, but no public markings like ADs and such, and you can really only tell if you own the video and it says so. I'm sure allot of fan-subbed videos are not identified.

[michman]

In case there is something illegal about it, which i highly doubt, the fault would be youtube's/google's, not yours.
I'm sure someone would've sued youtube by now if it was illegal.

[descalzo]

^^^^
Google has it on their site and they have the embed code right there.

If there was a whiff of illegality, their lawyers would have stopped it. They pull videos down all the time when they feel they don't have the right to display them.

[john0619]

honestly I think YouTube lightened up on the whole legality thing since if you think about it, back then they used to delete any video with music copyrighted and etc. But now it seems like they're allowing it for a slight advertisement or somesort. Honestly it seems like YouTube found a way to 'make it' legal

[Smith6612]

honestly I think YouTube lightened up on the whole legality thing since if you think about it, back then they used to delete any video with music copyrighted and etc. But now it seems like they're allowing it for a slight advertisement or somesort. Honestly it seems like YouTube found a way to 'make it' legal

They have, hence the boom of advertising on the site with videos that have copyrighted content on there. Educational content has hardly any ads if that the last I checked.

[nandifamily]

Whatever there is illegal or legal in Youtube, it hardly matters. I can easily download all those stuff with one click and share here and there. If they were so crazy about copyrights, Youtube would have gone down like Napster.

I dont care about these issues now cuz I am not yet 18 and have no money to download albums. All I just do is download them, listen or view them for a couple of times and delete them.

[sandy.beach]

Best bet check the faq's and legality on youtube, but if they give you links to link to your site then it would be legal as you are following their rules and not just linking to any old video.

Best to check the legal section on youtube, but sounds like you have the right idea.

[masshuu]

Sorry but i think a couple people are missing the point. It can be considered illegal if one embeds content from another site if the content holder hasn't approved of it. Yes that means if the copyright holder wants to, they could go after you, even if your just embedding the video.

The question here is if the Content Detection system built into YouTube is a form of permission by the content holders.