Google Threatens Legal Action against YouTube Conversion Sites
TorrentFreak has reported that Google has issued letters to several YouTube conversion sites to stop their activities or face legal action. The very first reported site to receive the letter was also one of the largest ones and is named YouTube-MP3.org. According to Google the site is violating its Terms of Service agreement.
The accused site offers its users a service where it creates an MP3 from any YouTube video and sends it back to the user. A person can simply put in the YouTube URL for a video and the Youtube MP3 site will give them a MP3. This MP3 can be stored easily on mobile devices or other player which users can use to listen to the music or sounds from a video. This activity may seem harmless but it has become a problem because the MP3 generated can be of music videos and users are essentially taking the music without paying for it.
Google allows users to stream millions of free videos from their website or embed videos on their own site through YouTube. This is all done through an API and the video is actually never stored on the users own hosting. What conversion sites are doing is basically by passing the Terms of Service agreement that prohibits any sort of downloading because Google only allows streaming of the video. The issue becomes a problem with copy written material especial from the music industry which is very active in trying to shut down piracy and stealing of its member’s material.
According to Google, YouTube-MP3.org gets 1.3 million hits per day from users around the world. The extremely popular service is not the only one around and other sites offer similar services. Google has not wasted much time in sending letters to these other offenders as well. Google did not stop at just threatening action against YouTube MP3, but has also blocked its access to video and the site is currently unable to function.
