Is it Alright to watch Youtube Videos which were Privately uploaded?

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MartyLeo

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Dear all,

There are a lot of films which have been uploaded privately onto Youtube without official permission from the film producers. Some of them are movies, while some are TV productions.

They are usually recorded privately and then later uploaded onto Youtube. Since they are private copies, they are not from the producers, hence they might violate copyright laws.

I am wondering is it alright to watch those videos on Youtube?

Thank you in advance.
Marty
 
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You can usually rent most movies from YouTube for a very reasonable price.
As an artist the only time I would support piracy is if the art in question is region-locked. Otherwise, you really should be supporting content creators and artists,they need the money lol.
 
For those films I am interested to watch, I’d be happy to buy them. But unfortunately they are too old, they are not available for purchase.

By the way, how do I rent a movie at Youtube?
 
How can you tell which movies are legitimate and which movies are bootleg?
 
Blimp, what if the films are not available for purchase elsewhere? Is it morally messy to watch on Youtube?
 
It’s not a movie. It’s a TV series production based on folk stories, they were made between 1974 and 1977.

I don’t think they are available for purchase.
 
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Youtube has its own mechanisms for removing bootlegs, if the legal criteria are met. The legal criteria often are more complicated than something just being “privately uploaded”, especially if the work is old.

If you’re not comfortable relying upon Youtube’s mechanisms and application of the law, then don’t watch the videos.
 
I receive royalties for my work. When we watch a movie or TV series we didn’t rent or buy, we take money away from the creators. If something is in the public domain, that’s a different matter. It takes some research, but we should make sure that the movie is not available for rental or purchase anywhere before viewing it for free.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Youtube has its own mechanisms for removing bootlegs, if the legal criteria are met. The legal criteria often are more complicated than something just being “privately uploaded”, especially if the work is old.

If you’re not comfortable relying upon Youtube’s mechanisms and application of the law, then don’t watch the videos.
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Yes. If you able to work out that a movie is in breach of copyright then youtube usually is also.

This is why you see “content removed for violating copyright” on quite a few youtube videos, and also individual channels which have been blocked for repeated violation of copyright. From what I’ve seen, youtube has become very effective at removing pirated material. Almost every particular movie or TV series I find there now is from the official source, whereas about five years ago pirate copies were rife.

I’m happy to leave it to youtube, but won’t argue with others who are not.
 
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Why not? Youtube is a legitimate platform and a huge corporation to boot. Why am I expected, as an ignorant end user consumer, to spend valuable time to validate every Youtube hit that comes up? How far do I take this? I would literally have to hire a lawyer. Right now as I sit here I have NO criteria for evaluating the legality of individual YouTube videos. What’s your criteria? That’s up to Youtube… not me.

On the other hand, there are less legitimate sources out there that are clearly pirated.
 
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