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Comment by cheald | Hacker News Reader

> With those applications you can get from clean install to playing a copyrighted movie in three clicks. You don't do that with a web browser.

Sure you can.

Click 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/fullmoviesonyoutube/

Click 2: Select a movie. Copyright infringement in two easy clicks!

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There is no mainstream browser that automatically directs the user to a list like /r/fullmoviesonyoutube. A browser is a generic tool that can be made to visit infringing content, but does not itself encourage the user to do so. If there really were no difference between Popcorn Time and a browser, nobody would have used Popcorn Time, because 100% of its users already had browsers.

What if Popcorn Time made the user click a button 100 times before granting full access? Is that enough effort? Or if a link was proposed 2 clicks away from the homepage of a major browser? Is that too little effort? Where do we draw the line? I guess we don't, since the DMCA's scope is so large.

If the primary purpose of the app were still infringement but you had to click a button 100 times to use the app, the primary purpose of the app would still be infringement.

Where did that URL come from? That's what I meant by "clean install". You can really get from zero to copyright violation in three clicks and no external knowledge by using those applications.

How is that at all a useful distinction? Just having them change the default URL to YouTube but then having everyone learn the "pirate URL" through the same channels they learn about the existence of the software is not going to change anything.

I am going to make some software that scrapes that subreddit and presents a nice UI. Then see if it gets a DMCA takedown.

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