Q&A: Distributed and Then Removed
Distributed and Then Removed
Question
Someone produced a film and uploaded it to YouTube. I downloaded a copy of it (to the best of my knowledge this is legal from YouTube; Google could easily make it harder for YouTube-download sites). Then the producer removed the film from YouTube, and now it is accessible only on the production company's website and requires payment. Am I allowed to keep using the copy that I downloaded for free?
Answer
If it was legal to download it, then you downloaded it legally. I do not see any reason to forbid using it.
Discussion on Answer
Yishai, why does that matter? I don't know of a way to download directly from YouTube, but through Google (the owner of YouTube) you can get to lots of YouTube-download sites like this one: https://yt1s.com/en5
Yosef, you don't know of one because there isn't one, and the reason there isn't one is that not all content uploaded to YouTube is permitted for download. That's also not Google's decision, since the content itself (as opposed to the site's infrastructure) does not belong to it.
I do not allow anyone to read this sentence.
Did you download it directly from YouTube, or did you go through another site/app and download the link on that second site?