Prompt's TechBlog

The Register is reporting that the website, TV Links has been shut down, and the webmaster arrested. TV Links was a website on which users posted links to often illegally uploaded television shows and films. It did not, reports say, host any of the content itself.

The thing I'm finding interesting about this particular case, is that it is a little unclear what the webmaster, a 26 year old man from Cheltenham, was actually arrested for. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) announced that the webmaster was carted off for "offences relating to the facilitation of copyright infringement on the Internet." Interestingly, a few days later, the police officially announced that the man was arrested on suspicion of supplying property with a registered trademark without permission (also reported by The Register).

It seems to me that the police and FACT are struggling to find a way of making this case; if linking to copyrighted material is illegal, then a vast number of sites and blogs across the web are breaking the law right now. The legal side of this particular situation is very hazy, and perhaps this is why they are looking at trademark laws. The webmaster has been released without charge, and the investigation is still pending.

Another interesting aspect to this case is the question of why FACT has targeted TV Links, as opposed to the sites hosting the illegal video. The obvious answer being bandied round on blogs, and in reports, is that the hosts are just too big. A large number of programmes were hosted on sites such as YouTube (Google owned) or Veoh (investment from companies such as AOL Time-Warner), and although the companies are implementing measures to lessen the illegal video on their sites, a lot of copyrighted material remains.

I do not fully understand what the ultimate goal of the arrest was. Certainly, TV Links has been shut down, but dozens of linking sites remain, as does much of the video TV Links pointed to. TV Links was a very popular site, but its removal just means the users will use another one. It seems, to me, to be like patching a knife wound with a plaster - ineffective and rather pointless.

It will be very interesting to see if any further charges are levelled at TV Links contributors, and particularly interesting to see if any stick. Although I believe that TV / film companies have every right to protect their commodity, I remain uncertain that this is the right way to go about it.

I am a copywriter at Prompt and this post reflects my personal views, and does not necessarily represent those of Prompt Communications or its clients.