Site of YouTube Ripper Goes Down After Court Order

If you’re tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. In a burgeoning conflict highlighting the contentious divide between the preservation of open-source tools and the enforcement of copyright laws, the controversial youtube-dl tool falls prey to music industry heavyweights. This move has left numerous advocates of digital freedom and open-source software in a state of deep discontent. At the heart of the issue in 2020 was a takedown notice issued by the RIAA, alleging that the youtube-dl tool was facilitating the bypassing of technological protection measures. Initially, Github complied with this notice; however, after deferring to legal expert advice including that of the EFF, they later reversed their stand, reinstating the youtube-dl repository and launching a million-dollar defense fund for developers facing comparable disputes. Yet the setback did nothing to deter the music industry, as record label powerhouses such as Sony, Warner, and Universal turned their sights to youtube-dl’s website host, Uberspace. The German server host found itself in a legal scrap following a ruling by a German court that stream-ripping software was breaching YouTube’s download protection and infringing on intellectual property law. In a desperate attempt at defense, Uberspace posited that this protection measure could be circumvented with any standard web browser. The server host also underscored that the youtube-dl tool presented an array of legal utilities. However, such arguments held no sway in court. As reported by TorrentFreak, the court ruled tentatively, acknowledging YouTube’s protection measures were not foolproof. However, they…Site of YouTube Ripper Goes Down After Court Order