Streaming media is continuous delivery of multimedia to end users, unlike one-shot downloads. Saving streaming media is debated and may not be legal. Copyright laws like WIPO and DMCA protect streaming media and prohibit circumvention of copyright protection systems. The TEACH Act allows educators to use copyrighted materials, but does not validate saving streaming media in violation of the DMCA.
Streaming media is multimedia, audio or video, that reaches the end user in a continuous delivery stream, rather than as a one-shot digital download that is stored on the user’s system. Although a downloaded file cannot be accessed and played until the download is complete, streaming media plays while it is being transferred. While a download remains on the end users hard drive, streaming media is designed to be like a public performance as no trace of it remains.
Depending on the source and the utilities the end user has available, it may be possible to save streaming media. In fact, the “right” to save streaming media is hotly debated. Some people believe that streaming video should be available for direct capture in all cases. Depending on your license, it may not be legal to do so. Therefore, you should save the media stream according to the manufacturer’s instructions and in accordance with the media license, whether it is permitted or not at all. Since it is not allowed in most cases, you should in most cases not attempt to save streaming media.
International information technology copyright law is the Copyright Treaty of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO Copyright Treaty) approved in 1996. It has been implemented through different acts, for example, Decision 2000/278/EC is the act of the European Community approving the Treaty. In the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides some of the laws that cover streaming media. When creating the act, it was taken into account that a buffer copy of the streaming material was made. It was decided that its transitory existence meant that it could not be exploited and should therefore be allowed.
The DMCA also protects streaming media from being saved in certain cases. Under section 1201, the DMCA prohibits the circumvention of copyright protection systems that are designed to control access to a protected work. Provides a list of types of behavior that qualify as circumvention, including bypassing, removing, disabling, or damaging a technological measure, among other approaches. The DMCA implicitly acknowledges that attempts to protect a work can be thwarted by those set up to gain access.
When an end user tries to save streaming media content to circumvent license terms, nothing can happen immediately to prevent it, but that doesn’t make it legal. For example, prior to January 28, 2009, Replay Media Catcher was able to record certain streaming media by circumventing Adobe® Secure RTMP measures. This was in violation of the Adobe license, but it could be done, nonetheless. However, that day, Applian, creator of Replay Media Capture, settled a dispute with Adobe by agreeing to cease circumvention of secure RTMP measures.
The Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2002 (TEACH Act) gives educators broad freedom to use copyrighted materials in distance learning, as well as in face-to-face classrooms. However, your rights under the TEACH Act do not validate saving streaming media in violation of the DMCA.
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