I would like to share my jellyfin movies and tv shows with my friend. I was thinking about allowing only his IP address to connect to my jellyfin server.
Is it a crime? Can I be arrested for this? I do not plan on running a mega operation for hundreds of people.
Is that ok to do?
That’d depend on your local copyright laws, but it’s probably illegal.
Getting caught without your friend calling the cops on you is extremely unlikely, at least assuming you don’t do anything fantastically stupid
That’d depend on your local copyright laws
Exactly. In Poland that would be legal because it’s personal use with close circle (family, friends). It’s legal to download a copyrighted media file that’s been shared online and share it within that close circle but not share it publicly or to larger groups. So downloading a copyrighted file via torrent is still illegal because you are simultaneously sharing the file with wide audience.
The regulation roughly translates to ‘fair use’ and there need to be similar laws on other countries as well, at least for the download part. You should be free to assume that whoever put a media you see online had the right to do so (if they didn’t, they broke the law but not you by downloading). If downloading a copyrighted media file was illegal then visiting any website would be a crime because they contain media (images, videos) that our browsers automatically download in order to display them.
This does not apply to software.
Ah surprising that Poland’s still got copyright laws that relaxed, I thought they’d been more or less harmonized in the whole EU. Finland’s laws used to be pretty much like what you describe too, but they were changed… uh, fuck, I think 10 – 20 years ago to be stricter and I have a vague memory that they claimed it was to be more in line with how most other countries are in the EU, but it’s very much possible that either the politicians behind this lied, or that I remember wrong
Yes. But is it moral? Also yes. Will you get sued? Almost certainly not.
In the US, it’s a violation of copyright. You could be sued, but wouldn’t likely be arrested.
I would say that the odds of being sued are minimal, close to nonexistent, if it is just a few close friends and family. Jellyfin uses password protection which helps, but you can improve your odds of staying off the media companies’ radar by keeping the server on a private VPN like Tailscale and remembering the rules of Fight Club.
Having a “library” is already a crime in some countries so…
Technically a crime; but there’s no one to out you for criminal activity.
