Homeland Security Running NBC-Owned PSAs

An anonymous reader writes "A few months ago, Homeland Security's ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) group started placing an anti-piracy video PSA on various domains that it had seized. What it didn't say was who created the PSA. A Freedom of Information Act request by Techdirt has revealed that the videos are actually created & owned by NBC Universal, but nowhere does Homeland Security publicly admit this. As Techdirt writes: 'Could you imagine how the press would react if, say, the FDA ran PSAs that were created and owned by McDonald's without making that clear to the public? How about if the Treasury Department ran a PSA created and owned by Goldman Sachs? So, shouldn't we be asking serious questions about why Homeland Security and ICE are running a one-sided, misleading corporate propaganda video, created and owned by a private company, without mentioning the rather pertinent information of who made it?'"

Comments

Oh come on, what's the big deal?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about if the Treasury Department ran a PSA created and owned by Goldman Sachs?

It's called a Congressional hearing, they hold 'em every day!

Re:Oh come on, what's the big deal?

[Sectoid_Dev]

You're blaming Obama for the bailouts? Really? You might as well blame him for Watergate and the Great Depression.

and at that point, the Republicans start drooling, asking themselves, "Can we?"

Re:Must See TV!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll wait for the torrent.

Re:Homeland Security?

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

If you post copyrighted material on YouTube, then the terrorists win. QED.

Re:Homeland Security?

[TwiztidK]

Well, as I'm sure we'll all admit, copyright infringement and terrorism are pretty much the same thing...kind of like jaywalking and murder.