this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2024
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It is definitely depressing to read about.
And the fediverse doesn't map well to the laws, but it can't afford to get it wrong.
Why? Why is that Valley companies like AirBNB and Uber get a pass for skirting regulations and only after they corner the market they start asking for government help, and we the people need to be constantly afraid of whatever rules?
Why should we feel afraid?
It shouldn't be this way, but it definitely is this way.
Even with all of what you and I have been discussing in this thread, the answer to "is this legal" comes down to "how much can you afford to pay to find out the answer to the question?" Settling a lawsuit is often cheaper than going to court even if you could win the lawsuit.
The average person can't afford to defend their rights even when they are legally right.
AirBnB and Uber can afford to fight in court and often prolong legal battles while trying to lobby to get laws changed in the process.
The fediverse is built on small islands of average people hosting instances of a specific platform. Getting this wrong puts the individual hosts on jeopardy very directly.
The recent illegal content spam on lemmy and lemmy's image copying made it clear that instance admins are at risk. They have responsibilities under the DMCA in the US and similar laws elsewhere.
Fortunately the DMCA has its safe harbor provision which likely applies to all the individual instances. Unfortunately I don't think any of them actually are meeting the requirements it outlines. But hopefully we never find out.
Now, they can. But before they were established companies, they were just a handful of people working out of legal grey areas and figuring out shit as they go along.
I'm not encouraging people to openly go and break the law, but I also don't think it's healthy to never dare anything and just play along with morally corrupt systems like the one we have just because we are afraid of the consequences.
Uber got $1.6m in VC funding after showing their app at a conference.
The way the fediverse works it would require each instance to raise their own money.
The thing you suggested as legal is most likely not just grey area, but actively goes against the intent of copyright. A company would be better at fighting that than individuals.
It's not fear to act wisely in the face of reality.
$1.6m is nothing
Or, if push comes to shove, to operate in jurisdictions where people are not persecuted for disobeying draconian laws.
I don't think you will find that any jurisdiction will allow you to stream your music collection to your friends without them also purchasing that music first.
But if you do find a jurisdiction that allows that, then host it there for certain!
Not what I said.
What I am saying is that there are jurisdictions where people can operate and will you not be persecuted (i.e, chased/harassed) even if some lawyer can find an IP address tied to "illegal" activity. Anyone that has looked into how to run a seedbox will quickly find out that there are plenty of providers catering to this market.
Then host it there if that's what you want to do.
You are still better off knowing whether or not you are breaking the law when you do so.