It’s bad times for people who stream video content online (which is, by my very rough estimation, pretty much everyone). In the UK, a whole host of streaming sites were recently blocked by internet service providers after they were slapped with court orders, and now German web users are even finding their free porn targeted. Is nothing sacred?According to German newspaper Stern, over 10,000 people have been affected by one law firm’s recent action against users of popular porn streaming site RedTube—essentially an X-rated Youtube, which hails itself as "the home of free porn videos."Working on behalf of Swiss company The Archive AG, lawyers Urmann and Company (U+C) have sent out warning letters to thousands of porn fans asking them to pay €250 (nearly $350) for streaming certain copyrighted clips. German site Chip.de lists some of the offending videos as "Miriam's Adventures," "Dream Trip," "Hot Stories," and "Amanda's Secrets."Unsurprisingly, the letters have stirred controversy—and not just because people are pissed at the prospect of their precious free porn having a price tag put on it. Although a Cologne court approved it, the law firm’s action raises questions about the legal status of streaming copyrighted videos, which has always been something of a grey area. While the unauthorised downloading or sharing copyrighted material is illegal in Germany, just streaming in-browser remains a murky legal domain. This is one of the first cases to target streamers directly.Whether it's fair to go after viewers is up for debate. As the blog BGR points out, RedTube users can’t easily tell whether a video has been hosted legally or illegally—so how can they protect themselves from accidentally breaking copyright laws? It's clear why the lawyers are keen to continue, however. Paying the fee is easier than contesting the complaint, and where porn is concerned it could save users the embarrassment of defending their viewing habits.Perhaps what's most worrying about this case is the question of how users’ IP addresses were obtained in the first place, in order to identify them. The law firm has so far declined to reveal how they targeted individuals, which has raised questions about online privacy. Some are even going so far as to suggest that malicious software may have been used to harvest the addresses. According to Stern, many of those targeted with letters had received a notification from their anti-virus software or from Deutsche Telekom around the same time of their alleged offence. That’s just speculation for now, but it throws a shadow on the lawyers’ processes and the validity of the court order that allowed them to send out letters in the first place.In face of these controversies, letter recipients probably don’t have to worry too much right now, and other German lawyers have advised them not to pay up until the creases are ironed out. “We are of the view that in the present cases there is no offense of copyright infringement,” GGR Lawyers wrote in a blog post.Until the legal kinks of streaming copyrighted content have been ironed out, and the mystery of the IP address collection has been investigated, it’s unclear how the whole case will pan out.Meanwhile, to add another layer of chaos to the whole debacle, the BBC reported that cybercriminals are making the most of people’s confusion to send out fake emails pretending to be from the U+C law firm but actually laden with malware. They have advised recipients to ignore any emails purporting to come from the company, as they only send warnings out by old-fashioned mail.It sounds like whatever you receive from them at the moment, you're not going to want to open it.
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