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Copyright Claim Thwarts North Korean Propaganda
ianare writes "A propaganda video from the North Korean authorities has been removed from YouTube following a copyright claim by games maker Activision. It shows a space craft flying around the world and eventually over a city resembling New York. The buildings are then seen crumbling amid fires and missile attacks. However, the dramatic images (video) were soon recognized as having been lifted from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. By Tuesday, the video had been blocked, with a message notifying users of Activision's complaint shown in its place."
I had hoped that North Korea was spending a large percentage of it's budget on original computer graphics propaganda rather than it's actual weapons, but unfortunately I was wrong.
I don't like how easy it is for people to take down other peoples work, and lately we have seen a lot of that.
Though it is nice to see when the evil tool is used for good.
Hmm, the humour and sarcasm seem to have been be lost on you.
Yeah! Silly North Koreans! Make your own darned cgi video of NY blowing up!
Um fair use, no. Those movies captured from video games give credit to the game they are taken from. The video used by north korea uses games with 0 credit to the game makers. But with that said any those videos on youtube the game creator is well within their rights to remove them but they don't as its not to piss off their fan's. N korea used the video in what is a clear IMO threat to the US of nuclear weapon use. China their biggest ally wouldn't stand by and allow that to happen.
I have a friend who's a marine and we had a good laugh about the mock fighter jet the Iranians put out last week. I bet I'll have them on the floor when I show them this...
The media portrays Iran as this menacing threat. People in our military however tend to look at them as that kid who kicks sand in everyone's faces. Harmless, but annoying.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
North Korea has morphed into a Kardashian class nation, whereby it matters not "what" they're in the news for, so long as they're in the news....
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
WTF? Really We are the World that crappy 80's song so we give money to the starving people of Africa.
Oh I get it DPRK is starving and that's their way of saying please help us.
I'm sure there is a argument for that somewhere? Regardless of message, it is not just a clip of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Restore the madness of youth's lechery
I claim North Korea for the MPAA!
I'm so confused about this. I suppose NK has done more physical harm to other humans than the corporate entities that have been able to abuse the DMCA. So I suppose it's a victory, but it feels like a Pyrrhic one.
I believe the cases are completely different as parody is allowed, straight out stealing video from a game using in an attack type statement is not.
North Korea has morphed into a Kardashian class nation
It already was: "Cardassian society is often depicted as being Orwellian, with strict government control over information and violent force. Denizens are shown as having unquestioning obedience to authority due to the general lack of human rights, which provides a contrast to the personal protections of the Federation."
Well, as much as I hate "Big Content providers" and their shills, I can totally see why Activision does not want to see its content in NK propaganda video.
May Peace Prevail On Earth
Anyone notice the theme music in the video? A strangely sappy song to have playing for the nuking of New York.
Oh, and I'll bet they didn't get permission for the song either as well as the Activision video. Wait until the RIAA bills Dear Leader for eleventy billion dollars for lost revenue. That'll fix 'em.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
When I see NK doing testing with rockets I just get reminded of the family guy episode where Peter crashes the petercopter then the hindenpeter into Joe's front yard.
"How can you afford these things?!"
I suppose it's a victory, but it feels like a Pyrrhic one.
True,
If the nut job running that country does manage to lob something our way, or toward Japan or Seoul, we are going to look pretty stupid waving the DMCA at them.
Especially when it has already been seen by the people it was aimed at, (North Korean TV viewers). The sad part is, that Kim family has pretty well made his own country the dunderheads of the far east. Even Vietnam could whip up a better sim than stealing one out of a common game.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Isn't it covered by 'Fair Use'?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGxbOVscHPs
Kidnapping South Korean graphics designers to do an original animation. They have form in this regard, see here
You seem to regard science as some kind of dodge... or hustle.
So what exactly was the good which happened by taking down the video?
Even Vietnam could whip up a better sim than stealing one out of a common game.
I'm not so sure; North Korea's driving simulation technology approaches a level of sophistication not seen since the heyday of Pole Position.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
NK's Glorious Leader has changed his name to Duke Nukem.
Table-ized A.I.
For whoever is interested, North Korea signed Berne convention in 2003. Foreign author copyright has therefore a meaning for them.
I disagree, in that a lot of those videos are indeed fair use. Corporate America has been working to redefine fair use, but recording yourself doing something, such as playing a game, is fair use.
The problem with North Korea's video is that it isn't for "personal use", but for commercial and/or political use. There is a huge difference between private, personal use and political use. A foreign government can't just take your stuff and apply it to their political goals, without permission and or compensation. Not unless they have the political and/or military power to back up that seizure.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Well, given the gaming reputation of the South Koreans, NK isn't really going to fool anyone down South, is it? If that was the target of their propaganda, that is -- SK would enjoy a huge laugh at NK's expense.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Kim Jong-Un wrote Call of Duty himself, in an evening. Activision is the thief here, and they will feel the wrath of the Supreme Leader.
I for one consider it to be parody.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
I disagree, in that a lot of those videos are indeed fair use. Corporate America has been working to redefine fair use, but recording yourself doing something, such as playing a game, is fair use.
And you'd be wrong. It's already gone through court, well before Internet video, so it's not even a theoretical. In case you're wondering, it was over unauthorized strategy guides. Legal if they're pure text like on GameFAQs, not so much when they're video tapes showing game play footage.
So any time you see some idiot on YouTube showing how "awesome" he is at Super Mario Bros. or "pwning n00bs" in Call of Honor, it's blatantly illegal. The only reason the videos aren't immediately taken down is that most video game companies are afraid that they'd piss off their fan base.
But don't mistake "fear of fan backlash" as "legal."
Yeah - but have you tried their "Tractor Sim" Awesome!!
http://fotoden.info/sites/default/files/styles/frontpage_photo_landscape/public/42ap120404b187_0.jpg
we are directed to a copy of the video... on YouTube??
Can North Korea demand that YouTube take down any video clips of Kim Jung Il singing "I'm so Ronery" from Team America, as that is clearly an unauthorised reproduction of the Dear leader singing?
No. The real Kim Jung Il never actually sang "I'm so Ronrey." He used to sing:
"Your Little Body's Slowly Breaking Down" from "Evita"
"I Kissed a Girl"
"Walk Like an Egyptian"
"Easy To Be Hard"
and
"America" from "West Side Story"
Any way... where can I watch the video?
How has "Don't stare at me i'm on duty" not become a meme yet...
Isn't that fair use?
There's no such thing as "fair use" in most of the world. The US is kind of on it's own legally, with it.
Parody, you can do everywhere - use of the original material, not so much.
Youtube is a US company, using US laws. Sorry... I feel no sympathy for plagiarism (which is completely different from copyright infringement, btw).
No one is stopping them from producing their own content, and publishing it on a major US website. They can publish whatever they like.
This is exactly what copyright is for, or what it should be for. Moral and ethical issues about where the product you have produced are much much much more important than financial ones. I don't quite know where you are coming from with this.
Copyright is by it's very nature censorship. That's its point. Unless you disavow it altogether, you support censorship.
Not being familiar with the game: was the video included as such with the game? As a cutscene, introduction or whatever?
Or was the video a recorded sequence of gameplay? If this is the case, is it right for the games company to have copyright on what I consider user-generated content? Does Notch now have a precedent to take down Youtube videos of Minecraft constructs?
It's easy to be all neener, neener in this particular case, but IMO we're seeing an abuse of the law here.
My first thought was - great - we can save money and remove North Korea as a threat to world peace by employing lawyers to shut them down and save lots of money by reducing military forces.... but then... I got wondering... perhaps the lawyers cost more than battle fleets and jet planes and nuclear missiles? ;-)
I thought political speech was even better protected in the US? Or doesn't it count if it's by a dictator who isn't propped up by the Pentagon?
Anyway these crazy videos are so unbelievable they count as parody in my book.
It's at war with South Korea, which has a massive US military presence for support, so yes.
What about all the other game videos people put up? I smell bullshit.
There's no such thing as "fair use" in most of the world. The US is kind of on it's own legally, with it.
But the law that applied here was the US law. In fact, under NK law, copyrighted works can be copied without consent as long as they're "performed free of charge", so this question wouldn't even be relevant.
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I suddenly feel compelled to ride one.
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
This is bad news for two reasons:
Boy, never thought I'd see myself defending North Korea about anything. Looks like in the North Korea vs. MPAA evilness matchup, MPAA wins . . .
I thought political speech was even better protected in the US? Or doesn't it count if it's by a dictator who isn't propped up by the Pentagon?
Thing is, a private company can do whatever they want in the way of censorship. The law and the constitution protect you from the government impinging upon your rights. My guess is that YouTube would have removed this trash anyway eventually, and they are under no obligation to respect "free speech" rights. Moreover, it wasn't the government that requested the takedown, it was Activision. And YouTube did so. I'm all about defending the constitution and everything, but there's really no grist here for that mill.
Well you know, all NK needed to do was not use footage from someone else's game, and they could very easily have not become affected.
And presumably, they can render their own scene of New York burning, substitute it in, and post the very same video, and Activision couldn't say anything. So, this isn't some sort of blanket power of censorship, it is simply a statement that if you want to shout from a soapbox, maybe you should get your own.
Actually, the US is at war with North Korea and *everybody* knows.
The Korean War never ended officially, there was only an Armistice signed, not a Peace Treaty. We are *still* at war with North Korea and have been since the 1950's. The fact that the current situation simulates an actual peace hides the technical reality of the situation.
It was hard to get a time scheduled to shut down Rush Hour traffic so that 80% of New York City could be lit on fire.
Of course, they could have just used Detroit, but then people wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between the damage from the depicted attack and what Detroit usually looks like on a normal day.
Let's avoid the confusion of terms.
Copyright is not censorship, it is a licensing scheme for the use of written and recorded works to induce authors/publishers to produce works, not to discourage them.
Censorship is government action to stop speech or publication based on the content of the speech, without regard to the "ownership" of the content.
The reality that copyright can seem like censorship in some facets of enforcement does not make it censorship, because in the end, the government does not enforce based on the content of the piece, only on the claimed ownership. In that manner, the government might enforce copyright against even those who produce government-friendly material, if the material violates someone's copyright.
No way did this come out of North Korea. Anyone believing that is a dropkick.
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.