So I understand that streaming videos of this type of nature is illegal, but what about all the sites that blatantly have text urls to the direct pages that show embedded videos? I mean, how thin is that line? If I look up a specific streaming site on google, that knowingly links to that stream site as well (or specific streamed episodes), who gets blamed? Reason why I asked is that someone on my forum linked to an anime streaming website (the direct link to a page that had the embedded episodes which were hosted elsewhere). Does the blame go to the host that is storing the videos, or the stream site that is showing those videos hosted elsewhere, or a website forum where someone posted a whole season links of an anime in text format (one specific website). Can someone report the links on my end and shut down a whole forum or place me in some form of legal limbo? or is it more so the streaming site or the site that hosts the files? As search engines do the same thing in some cases.. so where does that leave me?
Just linking to a site can be contributory infringement in the US. Your other questions fall into a grey area. A host can be liable if they are placing the links, or if they have knowledge of such activity. Youtube has a billion dollar lawsuit pending against them for user uploaded material, but generally speaking, if someone unrelated to you posts a link to illegal content, you have protection as long as you remove the link if notified. Now if you site is known for having user uploaded links to infringing content, there is more risk. Of course anyone can sue you, anyone can file a DMCA against your site. If you are talking about an occasional link being posted by a user, your site isn't a haven for this type of activity, and you comply with removing those links if contacted by the copyright owner, then you aren't likely to have any problems.
Well, thanks for the quick reply. I assumed it would be a grey area for those. Also, I am Canadian Not sure if that changes anything. Its good to know that I, as the owner, cannot paste a group of links to streaming sites, or should allow those actions of my members. Alas, more things for me to regulate and monitor