I recently received an e-mail about Plex Cloud. It sounds really cool. I’m already using Amazon Cloud to backup my media, being able to play directly from the cloud when traveling would be much better than streaming from my home computer… However, I am concerned as to what steps are being taken to make sure Amazon is OK with this type of usage. In particular looking for instructions for using encfs for Amazon Cloud, I stumbled across the following discussion:
This is fairly recent, and as you can read in the comments many of the people receiving this notice from Amazon are simply storing their movies in the cloud to play on Plex. Even some people report having received the notice even though 100% of their files are encrypted.
I would love to be part of the Plex Cloud beta, but I would hate to see us plex users lose access to our Amazon Cloud. With my upload speed of 10 Mbps it will probably take more than a year to upload my full movie and TV database. I’m currently at 15 TB’s of legally purchased content. Although the legality of that content could still be questionable as far as Amazon is concerned, as Canada’s copyright law no longer allows ripping of DVD’s and Bluerays with only a few exceptions… So Amazon would be well within their rights to shut down my drive if I posted my full collection to the Amazon Cloud, especially if I did so without encryption.
I also want to know that. When I read about Plex Cloud and unlimited Amazon storage, that was the first thing that came to my mind. The solution would be great as I have a onedrive storage account sleeping just to keep a backup of some of my movies, but would be willing to consider moving it to Amazon if I can use something like Plex Cloud instead.
However, it’s not worth the risk if Amazon can block the account anytime because they feel that it is copyrighted content. Has Plex discussed with Amazon about this to ensure that its users are protected?
The real important phrase it that linked page is: “It has come to our attention that your account has shared content that violates the Cloud Drive Terms of Use.”
That sentence is ambiguous as to what is actually being pointed out. There seems to be two interpretations possible:
There is copyrighted content on the site that was acquired from a sharing site.
There is copyrighted content on the site that was shared with others.
If it is #1 then it is actually quite concerning because that would imply that Amazon actually scans the content on the drive to see if it is the same as or marked as content that was hosted on a sharing site.
If it is #2 then it is less so because the “sharing” could have been intercepted like BitTorrent often is and that is outside Amazon’s control. From there it is a simple matter to believe that Amazon received a complaint form a Copyright owner or their representative(s) and then Amazon took the same kind of action that ISPs often do.
I think that it is #2 and, since I own all my content and I do NOT share, this might actually work for me.
BTW: I absolutely DO intend to keep a single copy of everything locally but using the Plex Cloud will allow me to reduce my need for local storage by half and that is no small thing because it would mean that my current storage will not need addition for several years as I will no longer need to use the duplication feature of DrivePool for most of my content.
I would actually, for my use, prefer using StableBit’s CloudDrive and move my duplication to there BUT StableBit is having trouble getting approval for the way they would Use Amazon’s API and I no longer think I can count on using StableBit’s products for Cloud duplication. I already have everything running well on my local system and it will be a bit of a hassle to configure my libraries on the Plex Cloud.
EDIT: Also I read somewhere (but I can’t find it right now) that the “Sharing” feature of Amazon’s Cloud Drive is not used by Plex Cloud.
I don’t think cloud storage should be able to be viewed by the host. They have no right or any warrant-able need to do so. I can honestly say 99% of my media is from shared sites and this service, while in theory sounds fantastic, will never be used by the masses. Privacy clauses destroy my use of the services, so Ill just be forced to stick with my current setup. I have crashplan backing up all my media from my drives which is encrypted, and I have setup a VPN to the site I go to for sharing. What’s going to stop amazon from reporting you to the authorities?
"3.3 Our Use of Your Files to Provide the Service. We may use, access, and retain Your Files in order to provide the Service to you and enforce the terms of the Agreement, and you give us all permissions we need to do so. These permissions include, for example, the rights to copy Your Files for backup purposes, modify Your Files to enable access in different formats, use information about Your Files to organize them on your behalf, and access Your Files to provide technical support. "
“Protection of Amazon.com and Others: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of Amazon.com, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction. Obviously, however, this does not include selling, renting, sharing, or otherwise disclosing personally identifiable information from customers for commercial purposes in violation of the commitments set forth in this Privacy Notice.”
I may have signed up for the beta, but it was these two specific paragraphs that totally destroyed the service for myself
According to US law, 99% of my video collection is illegally obtained. (I actually do have some open source project videos)
US is not allowed to make backups of DRM protected disks. If the only thing we could use it for is personal photo and video sharing, I see no use for a cloud server, as I have very little of either that I’d use/need Plex for.
@JamminR said:
According to US law, 99% of my video collection is illegally obtained. (I actually do have some open source project videos)
US is not allowed to make backups of DRM protected disks. If the only thing we could use it for is personal photo and video sharing, I see no use for a cloud server, as I have very little of either that I’d use/need Plex for.
Actually that is the loophole. In the US you CAN legally rip DMR content for fair use. Howver, no one can legally aid you either with software or technical advice. In Canada you can legally buy the software and provide technical support. However, you cannot actually circumvent the DRM, even for fair use…
Enough said… Most of my collection is grandfathered. E.g. I ripped it before it was illegal in Canada. But not all. Regardless, I do not expect arguing legal sublties with Amazon would get me very far…
@davidobe said:
I also want to know that. When I read about Plex Cloud and unlimited Amazon storage, that was the first thing that came to my mind. The solution would be great as I have a onedrive storage account sleeping just to keep a backup of some of my movies, but would be willing to consider moving it to Amazon if I can use something like Plex Cloud instead.
However, it’s not worth the risk if Amazon can block the account anytime because they feel that it is copyrighted content. Has Plex discussed with Amazon about this to ensure that its users are protected?
I am also highly suspicious about the involvement with Amazon, Google or any of that ilk. I am worried that once we are dependant on their platform, prices could start to rise quite rapidly. I also want guarantees that they are not going to use the meta data for analysing my families viewing profile with resultant bombarding with spam and promotional stuff.
To say that I do not trust many of the cloud providers is an understatement. I, for one, will be keeping my NAS
As a general principle, the only condition that I would place important files in the hands of a cloud provider is if the said provider provides me with a warranty that they are liable for any losses I may incur, including legal costs arising out of the loss or theft of my data.
Guys, don’t live in fear. If you are frightened about legal implications, don’t use Amazon Cloud, simple as that. You might even want to skip using Plex altogether, if you want to stick to the letter of the law in your country. Honestly, nobody is going to you any legal advice here… if you think that whatever you are wanting to do could get you in legal trouble, then don’t do it.
@per_PLEX_ed said:
Guys, don’t live in fear. If you are frightened about legal implications, don’t use Amazon Cloud, simple as that. You might even want to skip using Plex altogether, if you want to stick to the letter of the law in your country. Honestly, nobody is going to you any legal advice here… if you think that whatever you are wanting to do could get you in legal trouble, then don’t do it.
Common sense right here. Unfortunately, common sense is not so common these days.
The MPAA have been trying to kill fair-use if the DMCA is any indication. They been extorting people for years. I’m waiting for the first counter suite to prove malice that they intend to extort people.
I’ve no idea whether to mark last post LOL or Dislike. Shame can’t do both.
I’m as conspiracy theorist as anyone regarding large marketing companies keeping records of my search and shopping habits, but the previous poster apparently has little idea about how cookies work between partner sites. We don’t have to have content hosted for that to occur.
OK, so Amazon can check our files and do pretty much whatever they want:
I never got the invite to test Plex with ACD (Amazon Cloud Drive), but I have 2 suggestions, let me know what you think, if you wish so
My movie and TV collections is arranged folder/sub-folders and each video has its own NFO and metadata. I can batch rename all the folders/video name to some randon sequencial name (WORKPROJECT0001, 2, 3, …).
Could that fool Amazon’s bots? (I guess, not, the next step would be to read the file content, and the nfo file would reveal the movie name)
We could encrypt al files/folders before uploading to ACD. ACD could do nothing, right?
but then Plex Server would need to be able to decrypt the file (locally) before transcoding/streaming. does that scenario requires Plex adding this feature or maybe a plug-in?
I’ve just been looking into this, and a lot of people are leveraging AMZ storage by using different types of on-the-fly encryption and mounting their cloud storage to their plex servers. This means that anything they have stored on AMZ servers are encrypted, and can only be viewed from the server to which the storage is mounted and “decrypted”. Anything added to that drive is also encrypted on-the-fly. This adds a bunch of CPU overhead, unfortunately, but its currently the only “Safe” solution to use Amazon.
Frankly, if Plex were to add a plugin that allowed native encryption/decryption of media using a standard AES algorithm that would be amazing. It would protect the user (no one can see their data except them) and it would protect Amazon (AMZ can’t be held liable for any data they can’t decipher).
@Middge said:
I’ve just been looking into this, and a lot of people are leveraging AMZ storage by using different types of on-the-fly encryption and mounting their cloud storage to their plex servers. This means that anything they have stored on AMZ servers are encrypted, and can only be viewed from the server to which the storage is mounted and “decrypted”. Anything added to that drive is also encrypted on-the-fly. This adds a bunch of CPU overhead, unfortunately, but its currently the only “Safe” solution to use Amazon.
Frankly, if Plex were to add a plugin that allowed native encryption/decryption of media using a standard AES algorithm that would be amazing. It would protect the user (no one can see their data except them) and it would protect Amazon (AMZ can’t be held liable for any data they can’t decipher).
That would be great… It’s sad that no-one from plex can speak up… that tells you a lot right there…
