Hugo Awards Live Stream Cut By Copyright Enforcement Bot

New submitter Penmanpro writes news of the Hugo Awards stream being unintentionally cut off by some AI gone awry: "Quotes from the linked article 'UStream's incorrectly programmed copyright enforcement squad had destroyed our only access.' 'Just as Neil Gaiman was giving an acceptance speech for his Doctor Who script, "The Doctor's Wife." Where Gaiman's face had been were the words, "Worldcon banned due to copyright infringement."'"

Comments

usteam isn't responding.

[MickyTheIdiot]

UStream aren't even bothering to respond to complaints.

This is the sort of thing a site deserves to get a black eye for.

Re:usteam isn't responding.

[Solandri]

They CAN be sued, but I doubt the WorldCon would win the case due to the DMCA (U.S. law). They are granted immunity for implementing procedures to protect copyrighted material (in this case: Doctor Who).

Since when? DMCA doesn't require you to run bots which instantly take down content which the AI thinks is infringing. DMCA only requires you to take down in a timely manner content in response to violation claims by a copyright holder. There's no requirement that this be a bot. It can be a guy reading emails listing video ID numbers and manually disabling them. So long as he completes the task in a timely manner.

If you decide to let the media companies run bots on your servers for their convenience, that's entirely your own decision. And the liability for any screwups by said bots rest entirely with you.

Future of the internet.

[girlintraining]

I think copyright systems like this are [This comment has been removed due to copyright violation.] What's even worse, the government [This comment has been seized by the DHS, FBI, and Intellectual Property bureau. The user has been charged with violations of the....] Well, screw them. I'll fight them with my last bre[This comment has been forwarded to law enforcement for making terrorist threats under statute...]. And you should [Alert: Your antivirus has detected that this comment contains political views that may harm your brain. To prevent damage, it has been automatically removed.]

Re:Fitting.

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

It was a convention and it was for fans... so I don't agree with you on this.

DRM is all about fucking over the fans.
The sooner they learn that, the better.
You can't buy targetted "advertising" as good as this.

Re:Unintention? Gone Awry?? Incorrectly programmed

[TimHunter]

Bruce Willis is NOT suing Apple

http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/bruce-willis-itunes-music-library/

FTFY

+5, wait what?

[girlintraining]

Uh, mods, I didn't intend for that to be funny. That really is the future of the internet. If we're going to have a free (as in liberty), worldwide, packet switched network, then our only hope lies in software defined radio, 3D printing, and a dozen or so RF engineers brave enough to build us a portable mesh-networking communication package with rapid frequency shifting, ultra wideband transmit/receive, and on the fly encryption. We have to build a new network -- one that doesn't rely on fixed infrastructure.

And we have to do it soon, before our children get the idea that what's going on now is what we intended the future of democracy to look like.

Re:+5, wait what?

[girlintraining]

For synical people like myself this is funny, painfully funny. (I do not mod)

It's cynical, and that is why you fail. I've been talking with EEs and RF engineers for several months about how to create a cognitive/software radio. It's already been done, it's not theoretical -- the military already has this technology in use today with specifications similar to what the project requires. But all that research is locked behind the guise of national security, so it must be developed independently. And it's not easy finding DACs and FPGAs with the bandwidth and clocking speeds necessary to drive the radio without a lot of discrete components; And when I say a lot, I mean more than what's on your motherboard.

However, every person I've talked to says it is certainly possible; Just not easy, especially if the design makes every attempt to limit harmful interference, since unlike the military, this device needs to play nice with existing equipment. Your cynicism is, frankly, pathetic. Don't think that a few people who care can't change the world -- indeed, they're the only ones who ever have.

Re:like soviet russia and nazi germany

[girlintraining]

It time to stand up for OUR 1st amendment rights!

The first thing to understand about human rights is it doesn't depend on the law of men to validate them. You have the right to freedom of speech, expression, and religion, regardless of what your government says. You have it regardless of whether the Constitution allows it or not, or even exists. You have it, because you're a human being. That is the definition of a human right: There are some laws higher than those of men.

Stop thinking of this as an American problem, or a legal problem. It's an ethical problem -- and the greatest advances of the 21st century won't be in science or technology, but in expanding the concept of what it means to be human. That, good sir, is your fight. You are not alone.

Google banned my video because of the music

[circletimessquare]

It was our national anthem, and it was copyright free, I made sure I got the track from a royalty free collection.

Nevertheless, the AI thought it sounded like someone else's recording of the national anthem, so I was tried and convicted. Oh sure, there was an appeal's process, but it is up to me to wait in line to be absolved of the sin I never committed. Guilty until proven innocent.

And we are talking about our national anthem. You know, freedom and all that. Irony.

All hail the great God filthy lucre.

Eventually, the people are going to be fed up, and not put up with this crap any more.

Re:Google banned my video because of the music

[circletimessquare]

You don't know what you are talking about. I did appeal. And then sat and waited, and waited.

My whole point is that I was tried and convicted of a crime I did not do. Why is it beholden upon me to go through motions to prove my innocence? Why is my content suspect and subject to removal because I am not a large conglomerate? That's the point, that's the problem, that is what people should not have to put up with.

Re:Calm Down,...

[MickyTheIdiot]

They cut off a one time unrepeatable event. Not everyone can "get off their ass" and get to a con for a whole multitude of reasons. It's a pretty god damn bad outcome.

Ustream apology

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi All

For those following this issue: Ustream have issued an apology here which makes the facts clear. As a result of this error, they have temporarily withdrawn their automated monitoring software, so it is clear that they are taking this incident seriously.

http://www.ustream.tv/blog/2012/09/03/hugo-awards-an-apology-and-explanation/

regards

Colin Harris
Chicon 7

Re:Unintention? Gone Awry?? Incorrectly programmed

[Pseudonym]

If you do not know it yet, that famous " I Have A Dream " speech by Martin Luther King is not permitted to be aired anywhere, unless you can obtain agreement from the copyright owners

Just to be clear on one point.

That this historically important speech can be effectively banned (except for fair use) is disturbing. That it is effectively banned is almost entirely due to his highly dysfunctional family.