Google is playing nice with the music industry and is on its behalf stepping up the efforts to stop the so-called stream-ripping sites from gaining access to YouTube.
But the sites that provide stream-ripping – which is considered a relatively new form of music pirating – are finding ways to circumvent YouTube’s blocking.
The way stream-ripping works is by downloading audio files from streaming platforms like YouTube and storing them on the local device. While there are several programs that allow internet users to achieve this themselves, sites that offer this functionality have been gaining in popularity.
This, in turn, prompted YouTube to start cracking down on them by preventing some of the most widely used stream-ripping tools from accessing the platform.
YouTube’s efforts, which started last week, got the attention even of US congressmen, and, of course, the Recording Industry Association of Americ (RIAA), who praised Youtube for taking action – but sounded a note of caution as to the actual effectiveness of the measures.
Meanwhile, YouTube has confirmed that it was blocking “some” stream-ripping websites, by means of making “some” changes to its platform.
But those on the receiving end are finding ways to bypass them. TorrentFreak mentions three stream-ripping websites as already managing to work around YouTube’s blocking. In fact, judging by the operator of one of these sites who wished to remain anonymous, it was an easy fix – the site was moved to new IP addresses.
Among those that were initially blocked but are now once again ripping YouTube streams is a giant on the scene, Onlinevideoconverter.com – one of the internet’s 200 most visited websites.
YouTube could now start blocking the new IP addresses, with site operators moving again. As is often the case with online pirating and the efforts to suppress it, the whole thing could turn into a war of attrition that might or might not end up with streaming-ripping sites and their users getting tired and giving up, TorrentFreak suggested.
For now, though, it seems that the game is on. “I think the YouTube update is stupid because we will always find a solution,” said TorrentFreak’s anonymous source.
If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.
