I would like to share my jellyfin movies and tv shows with my friend. I was thinking about allowing only his IP address to connect to my jellyfin server.

Is it a crime? Can I be arrested for this? I do not plan on running a mega operation for hundreds of people.

Is that ok to do?

  • dactylotheca@suppo.fiEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    That’d depend on your local copyright laws, but it’s probably illegal.

    Getting caught without your friend calling the cops on you is extremely unlikely, at least assuming you don’t do anything fantastically stupid

    • Blizzard@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      That’d depend on your local copyright laws

      Exactly. In Poland that would be legal because it’s personal use with close circle (family, friends). It’s legal to download a copyrighted media file that’s been shared online and share it within that close circle but not share it publicly or to larger groups. So downloading a copyrighted file via torrent is still illegal because you are simultaneously sharing the file with wide audience.

      The regulation roughly translates to ‘fair use’ and there need to be similar laws on other countries as well, at least for the download part. You should be free to assume that whoever put a media you see online had the right to do so (if they didn’t, they broke the law but not you by downloading). If downloading a copyrighted media file was illegal then visiting any website would be a crime because they contain media (images, videos) that our browsers automatically download in order to display them.

      This does not apply to software.

  • verstra@programming.devEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    All responses are saying “it is illegal”. But is it more illegal than pirating a movie for yourself only? Would it still be illegal if you would have paid for the movie? In that case it seems like lending the dvd to a friend…

    • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I’d say two people pirating a movie is exactly double as illegal compared to one person doing it. At least in total. And sharing a legal copy with friends is completely fine in lots of jurisdictions. I mean other terms and conditions apply… You might have to circumvent some copy protection to be able to do that, and that might be a different offense. But apart from that, it’s similar to lending them a DVD (Well, actually since you’re copying it, it’d be more like burning them a copy of one of your DVDs).

      • verstra@programming.devEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Giving them access to Jellyfin is not fully “copying” a movie, it is just access to streaming (they can download, but that’s on them).

        Overall, this makes little sense anymore and I feel that limiting data sharing is hard to conceptualize, let alone prevent with regulation.

      • smeeps@lemmy.mtate.me.ukEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Yes but if you torrent a movie just for yourself to watch, you’re distributing it to hundreds of people, so it’s way worse

      • bizarroland@fedia.io
        0·
        3 months ago

        For instance, right now it is not against the law to watch a video on YouTube that somebody else uploaded.

        If it turns out after the fact that somebody’s intellectual property rights were violated by the original video upload, you will not be punished for that, only the original uploader can be punished for the IP violation.

        • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          To apply that analogy: It wouldn’t be against the law for your friend to watch it. If this was the case. Your court case would be different. You’d be in the role of both YouTube and the uploader here, since you operate the Jellyfin and also uploaded the movie there.

  • Hurculina Drubman@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    so long as you guys don’t watch the same thing at the same time from two different locations, it’s effectively you just letting him borrow one of your DVDs (I’m a not a lawyer)

    • Revan343@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      If course it’s a crime (or at the very least illegal, but a civil matter), you’re distributing pirated media.

      Are you going to get caught? No.

      • Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Not distributing. The person never possessed it. They looked at something on your server.

        That’s like charging me for smelling the steak they’re cooking on the grill next door.

  • theroff@aussie.zoneEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    In my country that would be a civil offence, not criminal.

    I’d recommend at least taking some precautions (e.g. use TLS or Wireguard, firewall if possible).

    • bizarroland@fedia.io
      0·
      3 months ago

      I technically have a dynamic IP but my IP address has not changed in nearly 3 years.

      I live in a city with 500,000 residents.

      But to answer op’s question, technically yes. You would be committing a crime to share your videos to a friend even if it’s only one friend.

      However, should you do something like set up a VPN for your friend so that the communications between your home network and their home network are completely encrypted, it is highly unlikely that you will ever be caught or punished for the crime.

      You should check your router to see if it offers a VPN generation function. My Netgear router allows me to VPN into my home network from any openvpn endpoint with the appropriate certificate installed, and the process is quite simple.

      Having said that, I am not a lawyer, and if I were a lawyer I would not be your lawyer, so do not take my words as any form of incentive or instructions to actually convince you to commit a crime. You must rely on your own best judgment and act in your own best interests before doing anything that is legally shady.

  • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Discuss with a lawyer or local law enforcement. This is not a reliable place to ask if you are genuinely concerned about this

  • StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    In the US, it’s a violation of copyright. You could be sued, but wouldn’t likely be arrested.

    I would say that the odds of being sued are minimal, close to nonexistent, if it is just a few close friends and family. Jellyfin uses password protection which helps, but you can improve your odds of staying off the media companies’ radar by keeping the server on a private VPN like Tailscale and remembering the rules of Fight Club.