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YouTube Muting, Removing Videos Involving Warner Music
notseamus writes "In the past few days, YouTube has started muting videos uploaded by users that use 'unauthorized copyrighted music' in response to Warner Music's threat over royalties, and so far appears to target only Warner Music related videos. Ars Technica also reports that after three DMCA notices YouTube will remove a user account, even when it appears to be fair use. Kevin Lee has had video essays — which he believes are fair use — removed from YouTube, and his account disabled before he could file a counter notice."
...you use a small clip of a song for the background music of a video.
That's about half the videos on Youtube.
THL phish sticks
Sadly, it's fair use for you to use it, but you have no "right" to post it to their site. Once you created an account there, you pretty much waived any of your content rights there. C'est la vie.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
I am speechless at the business acumen behind killing your number one free advertising site, the one that had no negative affect whatsoever on your sales because the sound quality was way too low to "pirate". Newsflash to Warner: I've bought music I'd never normally get simply because it was stuck in my head and that was the only way to get rid of it. By lowering your exposure, I can absolutely guarantee you're going to lose sales. Genius.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
It's not evil to delete people's videos off their own website because said person tried to bend the rules they agreed to when signing up.
It would be so much more fun if they just speeded up the videos and dubbed over the Benny Hill song (props to b3ta)
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
It seems it's possible to have anyone's account killed by sending three letters.
The problem with business is old people and I don't mean aged people just people with OLD IDEAS, like the captive audience. It's bullshit and it's gone. We are able to do anything with our constantly deteriorating free time, so why would we give YOU money when YOU treat us like we are criminals and not customers?
We'll go somewhere else, do something NEW and leave you in the DUST.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
And that place will be great until Warner threatens them and sues them out of existence. Youtube's playing by the rules set forth by copyright law. Copyright is the problem, here, not a silly video site.
The right thing to do in this case is to comply with Warner's demand.
Then go find some unknown artist that makes good music they don't mind to be heard more widely, use their stuff, and of course link the artist's website with a recommendation to buy their music.
Tons of DMCA requests are being submitted by scientology to take critical information off of the internet.
It's a cheap quick easy way to take down information from unattended accounts.
http://forums.whyweprotest.net/186-youtube-2008-edition/
It's also an easy way for them to get the name & address of people who are critical of scientology.
Nothing prevents them from using a fake name & address to submit false DMCA requests.
Who here as the money to go head to head against scientology? Especially since their stated aim is not to win, but to harass.
It's good to see a former big player withdrawing from a market. It just makes that much more room for an independent artist.
Warner reached a peak with the inception of Bugs Bunny. I'll maybe shed a nostalgic tear or something.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Says a Google search. Looking at some of the videos that were censored, a LOT of them had a few seconds of a Warner song in them. So they went far beyond removing JUST those "music videos" or "CD tracks".
Some of the videos I noticed have been disabled:
* Numerous AMV videos
* Video game demos and clips
* Several videos by stand-up comedian George Carlin (WTF?)
* Some videos about global warming
* World of Warcraft videos
* Live recordings of music artists from the 1960's through today.
So they removed videos that were perfectly within fair use, simply using a small snippet of a song. I guess this is the end of fair use...
Something like that happened to one of my own videos. Just a stupid little clip from a video game, but it included some music that apparently it's "wrong" to use. So they deleted the video. I made it easy for them - I deleted the rest. I'm done using YouTube. They're stupid for caving in so easily, but the labels issuing the takedown notices are far, far more stupid. They're slaughtering their single best advertising, and it was free for them. Seriously, they should be PAYING people to use their crap on YouTube. You already know no one (and I mean NO one) is going to use YouTube as an alternative to downloading an MP3. Let's see... choice of $0.99 to download the song and use it on your MP3 player, or have to go to a website, on your computer, and stream the video every time you want to listen to it. Yeah, people were DEFINITELY using YouTube to avoid buying music. Lots of lost sales there, yep!
YouTube is going from great to irrelevant, and it's hurting not only them, but the music labels as well. That's fine, I'm done with them.
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
The more these media corporations and the RIAA crack down on online media, the more user generated and INNOVATIVE material will get room to breathe and kick the crap out of Blink 9,347, Miley Cyrus, and whatever disco/pop crap emo bullshit they are successfully peddling while piracy is still available.
Warner is just painting itself into a corner, and I say GOOD. Fuck 'em. They haven't produced anything original or good in at least a decade, anyway!
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
The DMCA is too easy to abuse as a chilling effect tool. Fake people & entities are used in massive take down requests. Non-copyright owners are issuing take down requests of critical information & commentary. It is being used to obtain the name & address of people who post critical information. And it is being used to removed content of unattended accounts or to harass posters of critical content until they stop responding to DMCA requests.
* Message to Scientology vid DOWN!! - "The video was apparently down due to false DMCA claims made against two other videos, which brought down the whole account."
* Youtube account permanantly disabled, no reason given.
* 'We Still Run This' - down (up again) - Copyright claim by Gary Scarf.
* Tommy Davis videos being pulled
* A video from the Church0fScientology account removed for TOS violation
* The 888 video is down now.
* Onehuman and Gerry Armstrong Vid Censored
* Scientology Attacks Jedi Anons YouTube - BOTH of the videos that had readings from The Complex were deleted
* Angry Gay Pope Banned from YouTube - It's the video where Ken Moxon comes out and servers me a TRO
* flagging a different video of mine for sexual content, but the reason he is doing so, as far as I can discern, is due to comments made regarding the video itself.
* Is it just me or are about 25k YouTube "Scientology" vidoes missing?
* That shitbag TomNewton237, owner of XXXXX has flagged my most recent upload and in his shitty blog brags about getting Tori, Mark Bunker and others pulled.
* Very important videos taken down on Youtube - These videos are very important because they are evidences of fair game caught on tape.
* DMCA Abuse by Scientology Re-uploaded on Youtube!
* Report on Kaja Ballo removed from Youtube
* Another Video removed - "Shawn Lonsdale assaulted by Ron Salevo"
* Possible new wave of DMCA claims? - ContentFactory America, Inc does not exist. This is the same shit as the American Rights Counsel LLC.
*
This issue actually hit me on YouTube. I decided to post some videos of me 5-starring various songs on Guitar Hero: World Tour, since I worked on the game and happened to enjoy it. A few weeks later, Warner Music submitted a takedown notice on the video I made of me beating Hotel California, stating that it was a recording of a song by the Eagles. I subsequently submitted a counter-claim stating that it is not a recording of a song by the Eagles, but is in fact a recording of Guitar Hero: World Tour, which has no EULA barring the "public performance" of the game. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to see how it turned out, as when I discussed it with my employer, it was suggested that I just acquiesce to the company's demands so that they don't get upset with Activision. Frankly, rather than capitulating to unreasonable demands like that, I think the company should make the terms of licensing music for use in the game more clear so that crap like this doesn't happen, but there you go.
It's not evil to delete people's videos off their own website because said person tried to bend the rules they agreed to when signing up.
No, but it's evil assist those who would seek to destroy our culture. This is the battleground: between greed and the preservation of our way of life.
I'm not kidding, and a shitload of people agree with me
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
Seriously though, I applaud youtube on this point. I think they did the right thing.
:P
They could have simply taken down the videos, but that is blackballing, is it not? It's easy to forget the thing was even there.
Instead they invent a brand new method of censorship, who's only express purpose is to make it very, very clear that something is being censored.
They are HIGHLIGHTING the problem and they are GENERATING buzz over this fiasco. They are making it clear that they are being legally threatened and demonstrating what the effects of this censorship are. They are doing so under the guise of both serving the requests of T-W and being "kinder and gentler" to users, but really they are inviting users to Get Mad As Hell.
It is counterproductive to be angry at YouTube over this. They will shame TW, the RIAA, and they will back down and this new form of censorship will cease. In the meantime, allow them to make strikes like this on our behalf, and join me in raising some ruckus against the distributers.
People willing to trade their freedom of expression for temporary entertainment deserve neither and will lose both.