I am no lawyer, but it is just my opinion, that the illegal tube site have NO protection under the DMCA. The DMCA provides protection for ISPs against lawsuits from legal liability for copyright infringement “as long as the content is removed in a reasonable amount of time”.
The tubes sites define themselves as ISPs. However, I know that there is NO WAY there are so many philanthropist porn fans that want to lock down their ports on the computer for hours a day to upload video. I can understand them wanting to watch it, but waste that much time uploading? Come on. I already have information on this, but – this means that the tube sites themselves are doing 99% of the uploading.
If you have a paid employee doing the uploading of material you KNOW isn’t yours, doesn’t the DMCA go out the window?
Also, with regards to the “Premium Memberships” many of the sites now offer…taking credit card transactions to pay for stolen goods…isn’t that just criminal?
Again, I am no lawyer. That just makes sense to me.
I think this is a very good, well thought twist to the traditional argument which has been used in the past against illegal tube sites. If the employees themselves are committing piracy by uploading the videos, no longer can these sites claim Safe Harbor provisions of the DMCA.