True, but at the end of streaming, the provider/browser clears the cache. The legality of it is debatable, but downloading copyright material is certainly not legal.
If someone visits me at home and uses my coffee-maker the action is same as taking it to his home and using, but only one of them is acceptable.
I did not say breaking in. That would be equivalent to hacking. If i'm home and I let my friend use my coffee-maker, that is analogous to youtube giving you a license to watch a video.
I apologize for the confusion. I read your original comment to be a comparison between letting someone use your coffee maker (lending) and someone stealing your coffee maker which I believe is how you intended it. My comment was intentionally obtuse and was intended to highlight problems with your metaphor. I do not believe that letting a friend use my coffee maker is analogous to youtube granting me a license to watch a video. For instance, I have no desire to recoup my electricity costs by displaying advertising to my friend while she is making her coffee.
I don't think this is the same thing at all. If someone slides an envelope under my door that says "Please do not open" am I obliged to leave it sealed? What if I open it anyway and the contents advise me to destroy the message, am I obliged to do this?
What if you go to a friend's house (youtube) and see a letter that says do not read. But you whip out your camera phone, take a picture, come home and read?
The discussion is not about what is possible or should be done, it is about what is legal/moral.
