RedTube
 | |
Type of site | Pornographic video sharing |
|---|---|
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Owner | MindGeek |
| Slogan(s) | Home Of Free Porn Videos |
| Alexa rank |
 189 (July 2016)[1] |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | January 7, 2006[2] |
| Current status | Online |
Content license | Free; redtubeplatinum.com is proprietary |
RedTube is a pornographic video sharing site, which in September 2009 held an Alexa ranking within the World's top 100 sites.[3] By June 2010 it had fallen out of the top 100, but it made a return in mid-2012. Its popularity has been ascribed to its non-sexual name, which is a reference to the non-pornographic video sharing website YouTube.[4] The website is based in Houston, Texas and has servers in San Francisco and New Orleans.
History
Wired reported that Redtube.com was one of the 5 fastest growing websites in December 2007.[5]
The site's database was accessed and temporarily shut down by Turkish hackers in October 2008.[6][7]
In 2009, it was one of twelve pornographic sites blocked by the Sri Lankan court because access to the site, which housed images of Sri Lankan women and children, "corrupted society".[8]
In September 2013, one of the videos was blocked in Russia due to the Federal Law On Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development[9]
Viewers
As of 2009, three of the largest porn sites "RedTube, YouPorn and Pornhub — collectively only make up 100 million unique visitors".[10] MindGeek has since acquired all three sites.
Cease and desist case in Germany
In December 2013, the German law firm "Urmann und Collegen (U+C)" sent up to 30,000 Cease and desist letters ("Abmahnungen" in German) giving legal warnings to German Internet users who allegedly viewed streams from RedTube containing certain copyrighted videos,[11] demanding them to pay a fine of 250 EUR to the law firm of which 15.50 EUR would be distributed as compensation to the company claiming ownership of copyright for the videos, the Switzerland-based "The Archive AG".[12] By December 13 more than 20,000 people had already received such letters.[13] It is not clear how exactly the law firm was able to collect the IP addresses of RedTube's users.
In documents filed in court in order to obtain the personal data of the individuals involved, the plaintiff claims that he had charged a company called ITGuards, Inc. (allegedly of San Jose, California) who used a proprietary software by the name of "GLADII 1.1.3", allowing them not only to collect the IP addresses of users accessing certain URL's on redtube.com, but also to determine the exact time at which the user started playing or paused the videos embedded on each of those pages.[14]
The BBC reports that the IP addresses were provided to the law firm by the court in Cologne, which began a retrospective review of its decision after receiving complaints.[15] While sending out cease-and-desist letters to Internet users for copyright offenses related to filesharing had been common practice in Germany before, this marks the first time that legal measures are taken against people for merely watching streamed content from a website.[16]
Acquisition
Manwin filed merger notification to acquire RedTube.com from Bright Imperial Ltd in July 31, 2013.[17]
Controversy
During a press conference for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Samuel L. Jackson jokingly endorsed RedTube and was later criticized by porn stars Catalina Cruz and Tanya Tate who demanded an apology.[18]
References
- ↑ "Redtube.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
- ↑ "RedTube.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
- ↑ "Top Sites". Alexa. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
- ↑ Maglinao, Carlo (March 10, 2008). "Why is Redtube popular". Techbays. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
- ↑ Schiffman, Betsy (January 17, 2008). "Porn Sites Lead Web Growth in December". Wired. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ↑ "Web's Biggest Porn Database Hacked". Radar Online. October 27, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ↑ "Popular porn site hacked by prudes". V3.co.uk. February 6, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ↑ "Sri Lanka court blocks porn websites". Daily Times (via archive.org). July 26, 2009. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ↑ "Роскомнадзор заблокировал порносайт Redtube".
- ↑ Lanxon, Nate (May 22, 2009). "Twitter more popular than free porn: fact! | CNET UK". Crave.cnet.co.uk. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
- ↑ "RedFaced: Thousands of Germans receive fines for watching copyrighted porn". The Independent. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ↑ "Panic as Thousands Receive 'Fines' For Streaming RedTube Videos". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ↑ "Porno-Plattform Redtube geißelt die Abmahn-Anwälte". focus.de. December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
- ↑ "Redtube: Wurden die Opfer in die Falle gelockt?". chip.de. December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
- ↑ "German 'streamed porn' case reviewed". BBC News. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ↑ "Porno-Streaming-Nutzer bekommen Post vom Anwalt". welt.de. December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
- ↑ "Manwin Files Merger Notification to Acquire RedTube.com". business.avn.com. Retrieved 2016-07-05.
- ↑ Rawden, Mack. "Samuel L Jackson Jokingly Endorses RedTube, Gets Yelled At By Some Porn Stars". Cinema Blend. Retrieved June 10, 2016.