Watching YouTube Video Uploaded Illegally Sinful?

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MN19

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I recently watched about 20 seconds of a movie clip on YouTube that was likely uploaded illegally before deciding it might be wrong to do so and leaving. Would this be considered a mortal or venial sin or am I being too scrupulous?
 
I think you’re being a little scrupulous. It’s not our job to police youtube for potential copywrite violations.
I don’t subscribe to cable or netflix, so I watch a lot of stuff on youtube. I watched a cheesy sci-fi movie there last night that I’d have never known even existed were it not on youtube. Copywrite violation? Heck if I know. Policing youtube for copywrite issues is youtube’s responsibility.
 
Yes, it sounds like you are being scrupulous. Why do you think it was uploaded illegally?
 
Looked like a movie theater recording, should have added that originally.
 
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If it looked like a blatant violation then you only watched a few seconds anyhow before clicking off, and wasn’t intentional to begin with, so don’t let it bother you.
 
You don’t have any idea if it was uploaded legally or illegally, especially since it’s a movie clip, not the full movie.

Youtube has a mechanism for content owners to report violations if they wish to enforce their rights. It’s not your issue to worry about, since much of the stuff that’s posted is either fair use, public domain, or the rights owner simply doesn’t care about enforcing their rights in this particular situation for various reasons.

The rights situation in a particular case is usually so hard for the end user (you) to figure out that the end user cannot be expected to figure it out in every case where they might watch a video.

If this type of thing is going to bother you, then I would suggest you stop watching Youtube and seek help for possible scrupulosity.
 
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