Hi everyone,
I’m starting my self hosting journey and have run into a snag. I just took a job where I need to get govt security clearance and take polygraphs etc, so I cannot engage in piracy.
What that means in practice is actually abiding the ToS for all my media, so I cannot rip DVDs, I cannot capture streams (I believe including YouTube channels because they’re copyrighted and YT ToS but please correct me if I’m wrong because that would be amazing).
What I’ve done so far:
There is legal precedent to rip CDs and digitize books for personal consumption, and I have also begun buying albums I want from Amazon Music (they let you download the mp3 files directly instead of a Spotify/YT Music system).
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I am going to be hosting immich for my Google Photos replacement
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I don’t know the best service for a YT Music/Spotify replacement, but maybe Jellyfin of nothing else.
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I want to have a digital movie library.
So there’s the rub. How can I have a digital movie library without ripping DVDs? It is an unauthorized reproduction and although nobody is prosecuted, it is illegal and I’d have to disclose that.
Any advice is welcome, and I’d love to hear conversation about this.
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Unless you’re doing a full scope nobody will care. Even then it’s highly doubtful.
Even a full scope, they don’t give a shit about ripping DVDs or torrenting. They want to know if you’re a druggie, gay, or terrorist/spy…
Removed by mod
you can manually find which movies are out of their copyright period and are free to download, but you’ll only be watching 50s/early 2000s romcoms if you do that
Why is ripping a DVD an unauthorized reproduction if ripping a CD isn’t?
Depends on the jurisdiction
There might be laws against “cracking” the copy-protection (CSS for DVD, hdcp for BR) although there might be precedent that it’s okay for home use
Keep in mind that CSS is so bad that it has been sacked as a “security mechanism” (as the computational power required to crack the key is just a bit above the counting skills of an elementary school student), but I guess we’re more talking about BD’s.
It’s fair use to copy the files but it’s illegal separately to break the DRM, meaning you can’t digitize a DVD without breaking the law
Couldn’t you record the DVD? I know Blurays have HDCP, but I’m unsure if DVDs have a similar protection during playback, since screen recording shouldn’t break the Copyright if there is none.
> so I cannot rip DVDs, I cannot capture streams
Would any government job with a serious enough mission to require polygraphs and security clearances actually care about this kind of kindergarten illegality.
Seems like the digital equivalent of jaywalking or rolling a stop sign. Are they also going to check up and make sure you have never burned a CD in your life, or shared a Netflix password?
I say fess up and let them decide if they want to delve into the details of your understanding of fair use vs spending expensive polygraph time asking you about important stuff like personal debt or or foreign contacts.
Polygraph don’t measure truth. They measure your nerves. If you are nervous about obfuscating your piracy it would show up on the graph
pro tip: if you do not read the ToS, you also can’t lie about if you are breaking them or not
I cannot rip DVDs
In the US, this is legal:
“This means that you can legally rip a DVD for personal use, as long as you don’t violate any of the other copyright laws. What does this mean in practice? You can rip a DVD for your own personal use, but you can’t distribute the ripped file to others. You also can’t make a copy of the ripped file for someone else.”
https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/is-it-legal-to-rip-dvd.html
Media shifting is fair use.
For 20 + years in my misspent youth, I had a TS-SCI clearance.
I would suggest avoiding the grey area early on in your career. The investigators are going to be much more interested in discussions about circumventing laws rather than minor crimes such as copyright violations especially if you stumble and hesitate while talking about it.
Once you get the clearance, you are going to be completely amazed at the commonly known, but let’s pretend it didn’t happen, stuff that people with clearances actually do.
The government has often spent 100,000’s if not millions of dollars, training people with high-level clearance. They are not going to throw all that away for a ripped DVD. Plus, people with clearance often know where the skeletons are for other people with clearances.
Nine out of ten times, if someone finds out you did a fireable offense they are not going to do anything about it. They are going to tuck that information in their pocket and use it as leverage to make sure that next time some shit rolls downhill, you will do your best to make sure none of it sticks to them.
So, the government job does not pay well enough so you can pay for Netflix & Disney+ or why do you want to host our own movie streaming?
How would anybody ever find out if you are locally ripping dvds and why would that even be considered a crime? And if it is… who is the victim.
I actually don’t think it matters if you do anything illegal. That’s seriously hazardous advice at face value but consider the case of Edward Snowden. He omitted his white hat hacking escapades as a youth - though he reported his vulnerability findings to the relevant agency during the time of his indescretions. Consequently, he had little to hide.
Even then, he obtained a Top Secret clearance and passed the polygraph with flying colors. He is now a futitive - marked as an enemy of the state. While he is a proud American, and I consider him a hero, he lives in Russia where he was forcibly exiled and cannot get return to the states. Even then - he didn’t end up there because he lied on a polygraph.
Remember the 11th Commandment: Thou Shall Not Get Caught.
Ripping DVDs for personal consumption should count as fair use, no?
Do you believe ripping a DVD for personal use is PIRACY? If you do not believe it you will be fine on the polygraph
Ask a friend to hold onto your disks.
Then you can say truthfully, if asked, I used to rip CDs, DVDs and bluray, but I don’t have this material any more, I just stream legitimate content off Amazon/Netflix etc.
But you need to learn how to fool polygraph tests because you’ll still have a “tell”
