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This page is not here any more

· By · 1.9 minutes to read

This article is at least a year old

This podcast’s owner employed a lawyer to threaten us with legal action to remove the podcast page that would normally be here, even though its podcast RSS feed is openly published, it is publicly available on Apple Podcasts, and we were using the RSS feed as intended for its purpose.

We detail how we use podcast RSS feeds here, and how to remove podcasts from public directories such as ours. This podcast owner chose to ignore our advice, and to pay for a lawyer instead. They sent us a three-page legal letter, making a number of claims against us.

We reject their accusations of copyright infringement: we were linking to audio in the same way as any other podcast directory or app does. We do not agree with their use of a DMCA request, given we were using a syndication feed which is publicly available for the purpose of linking to a podcast. We were, in good faith, linking to a podcast by using their open RSS feed.

Since our podcast pages use RSS feeds in the manner in which they’re intended - to link to a podcast - we are concerned that this action threatens the very basis of how podcasts work, and threatens podcast apps and directories across the world. Instead of removing the page altogether, therefore, we are publicising this takedown request so that others may consider their position.

We were told by their lawyer that “the only authorised host for this podcast” is Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts gives each publicly available podcast an embeddable player that anyone can embed, so here’s an IFRAME, which remains wholly hosted by Apple Podcasts. The audio is hosted by Libsyn.

Using the “view-source” function on your web browser, anyone can verify that this IFRAME is hosted by Apple Inc of Cupertino CA, which the lawyer tells us is “the only authorised host for this podcast”. By linking to a page on the “authorised host”, we are not posting, using, distributing, and/or selling, or making any other unauthorised use of any of the works or intellectual property referred to.

We trust that the above is acceptable to the lawyer and their client.

Privacy: This page contains an IFRAME with content from Apple Podcasts.

This page contains automated links to Apple Podcasts. We may receive a commission for purchases made.

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