I have been asked that question many times, research the legalities of internet streaming, take for instance internet radio, I have been running an internet radio station for the past 8 years 24/7 I "the streamer" am required to pay BMI/ASCAP/SOUNDEXCHANGE and SESAC Royalties in order to play "stream" any artists that are under a label "which holds a copyright". The listener "receiver" is required to pay nothing.
Since nothing is downloaded "you retain nothing and can not burn to disc" for right now it falls under streaming laws thoughs doing the streaming hold the legal responibilities of copyright laws .
There is/was a bill in the USA trying to striKe down on streamers:
In order for videos to qualify as strikes against an individual, the infringed work must have a retail value of the streamed video that exceeds $2,500, or a license worth more than $5,000. To qualify the streaming must also be done for "personal financial gain".
The MPAA claims that it will only target website owners who "willfully and knowingly violated a copyright and profited from it." The organization says it will not look to prosecute those who "stream videos without intending to profit".
XBMC AND IT'S ADDONS ARE FREE and more importantly YOU are NOT the streamer.
It is pretty general knowledge, xbmc has only been around a little over a year but prior to xmbc there are popcorntime/crackle/reddit/projectfree/hulu/fomny and countless others.
BTW, if your in Canada it is totally protected under the Copyright Modernization Act :
- Use copyright protected material that has been published or made available to the public to create new works or “mash-ups” and post the new work online. This is only permitted if it is done for non-commercial purposes; if possible, the source of the copyright material is mentioned; the source material is not infringing any copyright; and the “mash-up” does not have a substantially adverse effect on the market for the copyright protected material. This exception has often been referred to as the “mash-up exception” or the “YouTube exception”.
Make a reproduction of copyright protected material as long as the source material is not an infringing copy; the material has been legally obtained; no digital lock is broken in order to access or copy the material; the reproduction is not given away to a third party; and the reproduction is only used for private purposes. For example, this exception allows consumers to copy songs purchased on iTunes from their computer onto their iPod or similar device. An important stipulation to this exemption is that consumers are not permitted to make a copy if the original version has been given away, rented or sold.
Since xmbc and it's addons are free open source they are classified as non commercial.
but lastly, as with anything, use at your own risk
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