Interesting debate, I never thought I'd see a copyright debate in a thread like this.
Ahem...first, let me say that I am a music publisher, songwriter and copyright holder. This is my world and my profession, I do know what I'm talking about. I am also a strong advocate against the digital piracy of music, software and video.
There is currently no standing law in the US that forbids an individual from making backup copies of media. That can be software, videos, music etc. In the case of some software, there may be contractual obligations that prohibit such things, but there is no standing law against it. This can also be true for music, film or video used by professional institutions.
In the case of CDs/DVDs sold on the consumer market there is no contract between the individual purchaser and the copyright holder. There are laws that explicitly prevent the reproduction and distribution of that media, which includes giving it away for free, but there is nothing--absolutely nothing--that says an individual user cannot copy it for backup or other personal use. The MPAA may still be trying to make that assertion, but the RIAA gave up on it years ago because there is no law on the books to support it.
Streaming media online is often quite legal as well, assuming the source of the stream is paying the necessary licensing fees to the copyright holders. This means that they must be making money by offering their streaming service--and despite what many believe--ads do not generate enough revenue to support an operation like that. If the site you're streaming from isn't charging you anything, it's a safe assumption it isn't legal.
In that case, the viewer of the stream is not likely to be considered liable. The source of the stream would be, because they copied the media and distributed it. The end user can make the claim that they believed it was legal and legitimate and there would be no real way to prove otherwise.
The question was asked "Who would go to jail if the RIAA or MPAA came to your house?" The streamer or the OP?
The answer is neither of you would. There would be evidence against the streamer, kept by his ISP, but the case would be a dead end. It would be impossible to know what was watched, whether he/she were complicit in the online distribution venture etc. Basically, it isn't really legal, but there's no provable case.
For the OP, existing law would have to be cited to file any charges. Because there is no existing law, that wouldn't be possible. Case closed.
The other reality of course is that neither the RIAA or the MPAA will come knocking on your door. If they do, tell them to leave! They aren't the police, they don't have warrants, and they don't have rights to search your property--and quite frankly--they never will.
There will be legislation passed, probably before the end of this year that clears up a lot of the vague legal questions regarding piracy of IP. If the RIAA and MPAA spend enough money, they might get something into it prohibiting the copying of your own stuff--but that's pretty unlikely. You will be hard pressed to find a single person who would say you don't have a right to copy things that you've legitimately purchased, for legitimately personal use.
As I said, I work in music publishing, and my opinion is the same. If you buy it, you can play it, copy it, play the copies, use if for target practice--I don't care, you bought it so it's yours. My opinion is shared by the vast majority in my industry as well.
