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Actually, that's explicitly allowed by copyright law (EDIT: so long as you're in the accessibility business): http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#121

(Granted, that the "phonorecord" must be in a "specialized format exclusively for use by blind" is fuzzy.)




It seems to say that "it is not an infringement of copyright for an _authorized entity_ to reproduce..."


Ah good catch. From the definitions:

“authorized entity” means a nonprofit organization or a governmental agency that has a primary mission to provide specialized services relating to training, education, or adaptive reading or information access needs of blind or other persons with disabilities;


Sounds like the exact same website could be setup and remain the right side of the legal boundary simply by presenting themselves as a service for the deaf. YMMV.

The owners would have plausible deniability I feel, they don't know whether their users are deaf. Then it would be down to the copyright owners to address whether individual users had rights to format-shift audio tracks [they purchased] in to a format they could consume [specific language subtitles].




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