ABC/Disney Shuts Down Blog Exercising Fair Use

An anonymous reader writes "A blogger named Spocko had his blog shut down by ABC/Disney lawyers because he had posted clips from an ABC Radio-affiliated program and commented on their content, as well as informed show advertisers of what exactly they were paying for. Spocko merely pointed out the content that station KSFO was broadcasting, and as a result Visa pulled their advertising from the station. More companies were reportedly considering pulling their ads. A YouTube video summary is available. From the Daily Kos article: 'How'd he do it? He did it the way it's always done - by working within the law, identifying points of weakness, exploiting them and being absolutely tenacious ... It appears to me as if Disney is attempting to bully a little guy in an unethical manner. Any media lawyer worth the air she breathes knows that Spocko's use was well protected.'"

Comments

Problem with things like torture

[metlin]

You know, a lot of folks have commented on attacking the other side by torture, murder etc. These folks are forgetting a fundamental fact - the moment you start doing these things, you become like them. There is no difference between us and them if we resorted to the same methods that they do. And that is why it is wrong.

It is sad that there are media outlets out there that not only supporot but also advocate these things.

I mean, racism, advocating torture, describing how they want to get rid of folks they do not like etc. Coudln't all that be construed as inciting hatred and violence?

Disgusting would be another way to put it, especially when you are totally ignorant of the other side and blindly seek to murder, mutilate, insult and say nasty things.

Don't these people have a conscience? And doesn't Christianity say something about loving one another? I wonder where all that was lost.

Re:Problem with things like torture

[JoshJ]

It was lost in about 100 AD when the Church started killing those who didn't agree with the viewpoints of those in power. They've been doing that for the past 1900 years, give or take a few (Crusades, Inquisition, Reconquista, killing/threatening scientists in the renaissance period, etc). Why expect that to change now?
Religion is a barrier to progress and an excuse for evil.

Re:Problem with things like torture

[metlin]

Oh I'm not a Christian and nor do I support religion in any form (am an agnost) -- I was just talking about the right-wing show hosts.

If you are right-wing Christian, doesn't that involve _following_ your religion? The one that supposedly had a man called Jesus who talked about doing good, being good to everyone etc?

That is the part that I do not understand.

Re:Problem with things like torture

[semifamous]

Don't blame religion. Blame people. People do this stuff. They may do it in the name of religion or in the name of their own greed, but it's still the people who are doing it.

Re:Problem with things like torture

[DoofusOfDeath]

And doesn't Christianity say something about loving one another? I wonder where all that was lost.

Yes, it does. You now have good reason to believe these people aren't actual Christians.

Re:Problem with things like torture

[hunterx11]

I agree that religion is given too much credit for encouraging evil, but it is likewise given too much credit for encouraging good.

Re:Problem with things like torture

[Original Replica]

"Umm, who are you to judge who is "real christian" or not (where's that part in the bible about judging others). "

Ah, a perfect example of warping a religious ideal into a tool for your own purpose. Thank you. There a great deal of difference between exercising your personal feeling of justice (Judging) and verbally holding your fellow man accountable (you claim to be Christian, yet are clearly acting otherwise). Judge not lest ye be judged, is not a call to apathy but to mercy.

Re:Problem with things like torture

[Teun]

Das Modell needs to go back to school.

Allah as the Muslims call God and God (Yahweh) as the Christians and Jews see their deity are one and the same, it's according to all three scriptures the God of Abraham.

And that's what makes the disagreements between these three 'religions' so sad...

Re:Problem with things like torture

[NoMaster]

All religion is inherently a bad thing, even when "good" things are done in it's name, because it is based on a falsehood, i.e., a superstitious belief in the supernatural

Look, I'm as agnostic/athiest as the next guy, but c'mon, anti-religion nuts are just as crazy any annoying as religious nuts.

You're seriously trying to argue that a basically pacifist* philosophy developed over 2000+ years is much more inherently harmful than a belief in solid evidence + whatever shit you make up to suit yourself, fill in the holes, and glue it all together?

At the very least, religion gives you the benefit of having other people around you with similar basic beliefs to occasionally tell you "no, you're wrong"...

(*Yeah, yeah, bring up the history of the the Crusades, Charlemagne, the various Inquisitions, and your peculiarly American fundie doctor-killers and radio nutjobs. I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about the Christian philosophy - y'know, "do unto others ...", "love thy neighbour ...", etc, etc.

About the only thing I can say is bad about religion is that focussed belief seems to inherently cause more and greater hurt in the world than unfocussed belief. Think about that for a while, and ponder who the bad guy there really is - organised region, or human nature?**)

(**No, not the band - though sometimes I wonder about that too...)

Re:Problem with things like torture

[maxwell demon]

Of course Mao managed to get good people to do evil things without a religion. The trick of getting good people doing evil things is to make them think those evil things are good. Religion is quite easily misused for that purpose, but it isn't the only abusable thing. The Nazis managed to misuse Darwin for their racism. Basically anything can be abused that way as long as four key factors apply:

1. Enough people believe that it's true (or you can manage to get people believe it).

2. Most of those people don't really understand it.

3. It can be mutilated to "say" what you want it to say.

4. The mutilated version divides the people in "good" and "bad" ones, where the "good" have the duty to eliminate the "bad".

Re:I seem to recall

[Curunir_wolf]

I contend that the correct response to this statement would have been involuntary entry to an organ donation programme.

Isn't that the kind of talk that Spoko was complaining about?

Bullshit

[spiritraveller]

What's despicable is how soon some people forget that Free Speech includes the right to comment on someone else's speech.

Free Speech doesn't include the right to have sponsors.

Re:No doubt the comments

[a_karbon_devel_005]

How do you "take out of context" a 40 second clip about someone talking about frying someone on the electric chair because they don't like their political views (complete with moronic sound effects)?

I'm not at all surprised by the idiocy that goes on in the realm of talk radio, but all this guy did was put up clips to show ADVERTISERS that were paying for ads on this show what was going on.

If the quotes were defensible, ABC should have defended them. They didn't. And as people have pointed out, commenting on segments of shows like this with portions of the original broadcast is COMPLETELY legal under the Fair Use laws.

...I just realized I was responding to "Anonymous Coward." Doh.

Re:SLAPP Reborn

[ScrewMaster]

Let alone the fact, that were it not for Disney's legal army, copyright terms would not currently stand at 99 years. That company has done far more damage than it is worth. Far more, and as for that little bastard Mickey ... I hope somebody traps his ass. And not with one of those mamby-pamby "humane" traps, either. I want the life quickly squeezed out of him, so we can toss his moldering carcass on the scrap-heap of history.

Re:Slashdot readers come out in force

[Wildfire Darkstar]

I will be hard-pressed to contain my humor, however, when some conservative goes to a company for advertising on a show like "Will and Grace", for example, and Slashdot readers will be sure to criticize that corporation for withdrawing ad dollars.

That's just it, though. Criticizing a corporation for withdrawing its advertising from a particular program is not really the issue. If all that ABC/Disney was doing in this case was criticizing, they'd be well within their rights. Sending threatening legal notices to the person or persons responsible for persuading the corporation that it might not be in their business interest to continue to spend advertising dollars on the program is emphatically not within anyone's rights.

Put more bluntly, this is a straw man argument. The right-vs-left politics are a sideshow, and they're distracting from a more serious issue at the heart of this mess. The question shouldn't be whether or not the blogger Spocko is a liberal, or whether ABC/Disney is conservative. If Spocko violated ABC's copyright, he should be reprimanded/made to stop. If, on the other hand, ABC/Disney is merely using legal threats to silence a critic who has not violated the law, then they need to be reprimanded/made to stop. This is true, regardless of the political orientation of anyone involved. Period. Whether or not you agree with the actual substantive arguments of Spocko or of ABC's hosts is immaterial.

Currently in court for a similar issue

[adzoox]

I'm currently in a protracted legal battle over my BLOG with a local eBay dropoff who has accused me of using their logo within my story. Their claim is that I am not allowed to use the logo (which is a key illustration of their services) under the Lanham Act. They have placed several pendant issues such as defamation (in the suit called "impeachment of character") and brand dilution/tarnishment.

The first court rejected the suit and sent to a lower court, the second court denied an injunction, which is currently in a federal appeal by the Plaintiff. The opposing attorney has been completely unreasonable in his efforts to "punish me" - purely out of revenge (on his client's behalf).

I have received no support from communities like Slashdot, or the EFF because of my typical conservative political affiliation. The legal battle has pretty much cost me my local reputation, ruined my local business, and has caused me a lot of duress/stress over the last year. Since I don't have the money for a lawyer, I have represented myself Pro Se.

I can sympathize with this blogger, and I hope that once my case is resolved that it will help stand as a precedent (which it almost certainly will) as the decision from the lower court contains a formula for determining which bloggers qualify as journalism and which don't. This blogger will benefit greatly from such a decision.

The best analysis of my case can be seen here:

http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2006/11/blog_ lawsuit_ov.htm