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YouTube Defending Select Videos Against DMCA Abuse

Posted by timothy on from the where-bread-is-buttered dept.

Galaga88 writes: It's not a complete solution, but YouTube is going to begin stepping up to defend select videos in court on fair use terms, including covering court costs. Will this help stem the tide of bad DMCA takedown requests, or just help the select few YouTube doesn't want to lose? From the blog post linked: We are offering legal support to a handful of videos that we believe represent clear fair uses which have been subject to DMCA takedowns. With approval of the video creators, we’ll keep the videos live on YouTube in the U.S., feature them in the YouTube Copyright Center as strong examples of fair use, and cover the cost of any copyright lawsuits brought against them. ... In addition to protecting the individual creator, this program could, over time, create a “demo reel” that will help the YouTube community and copyright owners alike better understand what fair use looks like online and develop best practices as a community.

4 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Between a rock and a hard place... by H3lldr0p · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That is entirely of their own making.

    They didn't need to create the ContentID system and allow it work the way it does. But they did.

    By law they needed a way to respond to DMCA notices but they didn't need to automate it. And now those chickens have come home to roost.

    All in all, Google stepping up to start sorting out this mess they made all by themselves is a good thing. I am hopeful they see it through by changing the way their system works and maybe taking out some of the automation that is one of the biggest problems with it. May they also push some sane legislation that will make it possible to do away with the worst abuses of the Notice system.

    1. Re:Between a rock and a hard place... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This does not have anything to do with content ID.

      There's a serious problem where scumbags will target small-medium youtubers, steal and repost their videos, then file claims against the original owners. And they do it all in a more or less automated fashion.

      This is a tiny bit oversimplified but it's basically this, and a bunch of other related schemes. Point is it works because it's a pretty asymmetric attack. The scumbag has automation and volume and zero chance of being caught.

      Worse, all they have to do is steal traffic for a small amount of time. Many of these videos are topical and will generate the most views near when said topic is hot. (Like a new game, or a news event, or recently popular social topic/meme/whatever) In many cases delaying a video is as bad as killing it outright since it a late video about a hot topic will generate basically zero revenue for a youtuber.

      And it's not just about video theft. You can shut out competitors. You can harm others by depriving them of visibility and revenue.

      And you can censor criticism but harming the revenue of critics. - Yanking a video on a hot topic at the height of its 'hotness' is just as bad, revenue wise, as having it removed forever. That's enough of a threat to cause critics to censor themselves in some circumstances.

  2. Dailymotion/Vimeo by BrookHarty · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've already seen people backing up and dual broadcasting due to DMCA takedowns on youtube. Most are podcasts or game reviewers that are getting DMCA take downs, and after 3 your account is removed. Scary. I have no loyalty to youtube or twitter, or any other service that decides to swing the ban hammer on content producers for political reasons hiding behind a DMCA takedown.

  3. Re:Unfortunately... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When there is a massive power imbalance, i.e. corporation vs. individual, the standard should really be recklessness or carelessness -- you have 14,000x as many resources as the person you're accusing, you can afford to take a few minutes to make sure the bug you're squashing is actually biting you. When a corporation shotguns takedowns and hits the short movie they licensed to make their big movie, it would be pretty easy to prove carelessness.

    Scant chance of that making it into law, of course.