So, let’s say I really enjoy a video that is out there on the web (YouTube, Hulu, Netflix) but I observe that it has some content that the Level3Kids shouldn’t be exposed to. I want to show them this video, though, so I come up with a potential software solution:
I capture the streaming video as it is coming through the internet onto my laptop.
I have a (software) video player that allows me to mute, skip over a section, or fade to black at a certain point in time.
I create various settings files with the details of when to mute, skip, etc. and can load those at will for the various video streams I might want to watch with the family.
Now, I know that by doing this kind of editing, I might be potentially violating copyright. I want to avoid being on the wrong side of the law, so I am most definitely NOT asking anyone to fill in the (intentionally vague and technically challenging) details to steps one through three.
But I am also aware, that a court case determined that if I own the DVD I am free to modify the DVD to my heart’s content, so long as I am not making a copy of said DVD or showing the edited movie in a public context (I know this in a vague sense, I have no citation and I lack to skills to look up this case). There are companies that provide DVD players that do this very thing, with you subscribing to and downloading their edits.
My question, I guess, boils down to ownership of the video stream. If I am a paying NetFlix customer, and therefore “purchasing” the streaming video, does my editing said video stream differ any from my having the DVD in hand and editing it via a special DVD player? Has this kind of thing ever seen the light of day in a copyright court?
If you’re doing it for your own amusement, that falls under fair use.
If you show the videos to others, from a group of friends to national television, you owe someone some money for the use of the material, and possibly damages for unauthorized use if you didn’t ask permission beforehand.
There may be additional DMCA issues, or licensing restrictions that you accepted implicitly or explicitly to watch the material in the first place.
And as I think further on this, it almost seems like the equivalent of my purchasing a DVD, watching it (edited), and then throwing the DVD away.
And maybe I am wrong the the whole ownership thing. I guess I am more worried about people having issues with my modifying their works, and having a legal leg to stand on to tell me I can’t.
Let’s throw another spanner into the works: Say I develop this system and then want to sell it to my neighbor, who also has children and wants to auto-edit their streaming videos. I might charge him for the software bundle, and charge him for the edit settings file. Am I now outside my legal rights? Can the original creator of the work come after me for providing the materials to easily modify their works?
A parallel, maybe: I decide I want to create an auto-editing feature for the Straight Dope Message Board, so I create a browser wherein any mentioning of certain words I feel are offensive are blacked out. Even more sophisticated, I create certain settings where I block out / significantly modify the posts of certain users. I sell this browser to my neighbor, and charge him for the settings I created. Legal?
Now I do the same thing with electronic books. I sell my censoring eBook reader to other people, and charge them for the settings (and possibly the rewriting of certain passages so the book still makes sense). The censorBook ™ reader can have its censoring capabilities turned off, so the consumer would be “in control” of their choice to edit a selection. Can the original author of the book come after me, legally?
This whole copyright thing is a really fuzzy area in my brain. All help in explaining how it works is appreciated!
I did a bunch of consulting work for a Canadian company, and have a U.S. Patent on some technology very similar to what you’re describing. Basically, my system embeds instructions in the VBI of an analog video stream or in the metadata of a video stream where the closed captioning stream resides. Those instructions can mute audio, modify text in subtitles, and blank (solid color rectangle, blur, pixellation, whatever) all or part of the video image. This all came about because the V-Chip is all or nothing: you can either watch the video or not. My solution allowed for only certain parts to be removed, making the rest suitable for the children.
The company I did the work for determined that, as mentioned upthread, you can do what you wish to your personal copy of the video, but everything gets legally fuzzy if you redistribute it. The biggest issue is that you can be sued by the copyright owner whether you’ve actually violated a law or not. While the vast majority of video producers really wouldn’t care about what you’re doing, it only takes one company with a lawyer on retainer to ruin your day.
That’s my take on it. It seems no different then having a parent sitting there with an index card that says
1:12:11 mute 12 seconds (swearing)
1:29:34 mute 2 seconds (swearing)
1:37:23 shut off video 2 minutes (drug use)
1:43:29 block bottom half of video 37 seconds (nudity)
1:52:55 shut off video and mute 1 minute (sex)
The video isn’t edited. All that’s happening is that the feed to the monitor and speakers is being edited. But the original data file is intact.