As we head into the preseason, this conversation tends to come up, and I really want to get this out there:
I've gotten hit with multiple copyright complaints this offseason regarding posting links on the forum to illegal streaming sites (or mentioning them). Most of them were found on past threads, but it was a bit of a battle dealing with it each time it happened, and I really wanted to make this clear moving forward:
You absolutely cannot do it, and I'm as serious as I'm ever going to be about this. The approach they're taking is essentially saying we're facilitating illegal activity by linking to it (which, in their mind, is essentially promoting it), and I don't have the wherewithal to deal with this if it does get pushed beyond what I've already had to deal with. Both the NBA and the NFL are pushing this issue, and they're going so far as to pull down pages that are indexed in Google and even contacting hosting providers for multiple offenders (which takes the site down), along with sending letters to site owners.
It's really simple: you cannot share a link to it (or mention the site) on the forum. If you do, the first time you'll get a warning. The second time, I'm going to have to suspend your account for 30 days, and the third time, it's permanent. Not trying to be difficult, but I don't have the resources to deal with any legal issues, and while you might argue or disagree with their logic behind it (and I also don't agree with it), it doesn't change the fact that it falls on me, and I'm just a nobody with a website. I don't have money or the time to fly wherever I would need to go and appear in court if that's what it came down to, let alone any potential fines.
And again, we can go round and round on whether or not they have a case, but the bottom line is, it's just a conversation I don't want to have at all. They can tie up my time/money arguing it, and I can't afford to do that.
It sucks, and I'm not trying to be a jerk, but this current climate is challenging enough as it is. This is one issue that I absolutely don't want to have to deal with again, having been down this road already this offseason. And I certainly don't want to get a letter from their legal team for being a "multiple-time offender" and then really have it escalate. So please help me out and don't do it.
EDITED 8/8 3:23 pm: Added the mention of the sites, which is also an issue.
