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Is this considered stealing

by downunder57
11 replies
Who owns the link under a video on Youtube?

I've seen a program that suggests that you can hijack someones Youtube traffic
by purchasing the original domain that the link pointed to but now has expired.
So then you would get all the traffic when someone clicks on the link and send
to where ever you want.

Sounds great but would it be legal?

To me, I would have thought that the person who posted the video originally
would theoretically be the owner of the video, titles, descriptions and
any links.

What do others think?

Thanks
#considered #hijacking #stealing
  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    Why wouldn't it. Whoever owned the url in the past let it go, so now it is open for anyone to buy. Secondly, whoever owns the video is responsible for the description and links in that description.

    More than likely the person who let the domain go is also probably not involved with any videos they might have uploaded in the past.

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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Lots of people register expired domains and do so for the links and traffic that they believe they are getting.

    I'm personally in the camp that believes expired domains are only marginally helpful for a short time.

    I believe the search engines, Google in particular, know when a domain changes ownership. They know when a new web site is the receiver of traffic through old links.

    Google always says they want to enhance the user experience and serve up the most relevant SERPs possible.

    The traffic you get most likely won't last for long.

    Many, many people say their traffic from a new site on a recently purchased expired domain goes down very quickly as does the page rank to their similarly named pages.

    Try out your hypothesis and see if it works. I have my doubts.

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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    Buying an expired domain is perfectly legal, and as long as the video owner doesn't alter or change the link, you have every right to utilize that resource.

    It may be more of a question of ethics, as other training I've explored suggests contacting the channel owner, 'buying the description link" or having them add your 'relevant' link to their description area for an agreed upon fee.

    Each has its own upsides/downsides.

    As far as buying expired domains and taking advantage of 'dead links' I see that being 'open game' - at least until the YouTube channel owner wises up or changes the link. So, you would be gambling on that being you have 'no control' over what they might do.

    I am NOT a lawyer, but I seriously do not think this could ever be found illegal... if you own the domain, and they continue to advertise it for free... could be a winner, if they never update the link(s).

    Just my 2 cents.

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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    In this case, Google really doesn't have anything to do with the OP's question, except that it owns Youtube.


    Yes, IMO it's legal. The issue is how much traffic the domain gets, and will continue to get, from having a link in the YT description? This may be a case where you have to buy 10 domain names with 9 not seeing any traffic at all and the 10th getting some traffic, but this is just a guess.


    Most expired domain checkers do have a feature for traffic, however they probably aren't all that accurate. But, an expired domain doesn't have to have a link from a YT description to get traffic. It's possible to get traffic from links from a lot of places.
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  • Profile picture of the author sparrow
    As Kurt said it's legal when you buy any expired domain you get the package attached to the domain

    The real question IMO are those links still sending traffic that's sometimes very difficult to figure out
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  • Profile picture of the author downunder57
    My question was not about buying a domain. Of course that's legal.
    It is about who owns the content on Youtube.. Can I hijack the link.

    Ok, so the general consensis is that it should be legal to
    efffectly hijack their link. That's all I needed to know.
    Whether it's ethical, that's another matter.

    I'm talking about videos more than 1 year old that are still getting
    a good amount of daily views and is fairly consistent.
    Hopefully a reasonable percentage will click the link.

    Of course if the video owner changes the link or the daily views drop off,
    then thats tough. Thats out of my control.

    Thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      If person A chooses to link to website X from his/her youtube property, person A has the right to do so.

      Regardless of who owns website X.

      If website X changes owners and the new owners change the content person A linked to and person A does not remove the link, how is anyone hijacking anything? stealing anything?

      Person A is doing things willingly.

      Originally Posted by downunder57 View Post

      My question was not about buying a domain. Of course that's legal.
      It is about who owns the content on Youtube.. Can I hijack the link.

      Ok, so the general consensis is that it should be legal to
      efffectly hijack their link. That's all I needed to know.
      Whether it's ethical, that's another matter.

      I'm talking about videos more than 1 year old that are still getting
      a good amount of daily views and is fairly consistent.
      Hopefully a reasonable percentage will click the link.

      Of course if the video owner changes the link or the daily views drop off,
      then thats tough. Thats out of my control.

      Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author spazz896
    Maybe better strategy, is pay the video owner to the place your url in the video description? It's easier to manage one website then 100 different domains..
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  • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
    I don't consider it stealing...the original owner let the domain expire and ownership of that domain was transferred to someone else.
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  • Profile picture of the author socialsite
    It is as legal as it gets. It's no different then if someone left a house to the city. If you decide to buy the house from the city there is nothing wrong with it. The city would represent go daddy or any domain seller. So it's online property that was abandoned and is available for anyone to pick up. People buy old domains all the time.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    I don't think this would be stealing.. assuming you purchase the domain legally..
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