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Vox Lawyers Briefly Censored YouTubers Who Mocked the Verge's Bad PC Build Video (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In case you missed the latest drama to take place in the YouTube tech community, Ars Technica reports how Vox Media attempted to copyright strike two reaction videos that mocked The Verge's terrible PC build guide video that could have ruined a $2,000 system for a beginner PC builder. That effort failed when the tech community sounded the alarms; YouTube removed the copyright strikes and Vox Media had to retract their takedown notice.
From the report: "Last week, The Verge got a reminder about the power of the Streisand effect after its lawyers issued copyright takedown requests for two YouTube videos that criticized -- and heavily excerpted -- a video by The Verge. Each takedown came with a copyright 'strike.' It was a big deal for the creators of the videos, because three 'strikes' in a 90-day period are enough to get a YouTuber permanently banned from the platform. T.C. Sottek, the Verge's managing editor, blamed lawyers at the Verge's parent company, Vox Media, for the decision. 'The Verge's editorial structure was involved zero percent in the decision to issue a strike,' Sottek said in a direct message. 'Vox Media's legal team did this independently and informed us of it after the fact.' The move sparked an online backlash. Verge editor Nilay Patel (who, full disclosure, was briefly a colleague of mine at The Verge's sister publication Vox.com), says that when he learned about the decision, he asked that the strike be rescinded, leading to the videos being reinstated. Still, Patel defended the lawyers' legal reasoning, arguing that the videos 'crossed the line' into copyright infringement. It's hard to be sure if this is true since there are very few precedents in this area of the law. But the one legal precedent I was able to find suggests the opposite: that this kind of video is solidly within the bounds of copyright's fair use doctrine."
From the report: "Last week, The Verge got a reminder about the power of the Streisand effect after its lawyers issued copyright takedown requests for two YouTube videos that criticized -- and heavily excerpted -- a video by The Verge. Each takedown came with a copyright 'strike.' It was a big deal for the creators of the videos, because three 'strikes' in a 90-day period are enough to get a YouTuber permanently banned from the platform. T.C. Sottek, the Verge's managing editor, blamed lawyers at the Verge's parent company, Vox Media, for the decision. 'The Verge's editorial structure was involved zero percent in the decision to issue a strike,' Sottek said in a direct message. 'Vox Media's legal team did this independently and informed us of it after the fact.' The move sparked an online backlash. Verge editor Nilay Patel (who, full disclosure, was briefly a colleague of mine at The Verge's sister publication Vox.com), says that when he learned about the decision, he asked that the strike be rescinded, leading to the videos being reinstated. Still, Patel defended the lawyers' legal reasoning, arguing that the videos 'crossed the line' into copyright infringement. It's hard to be sure if this is true since there are very few precedents in this area of the law. But the one legal precedent I was able to find suggests the opposite: that this kind of video is solidly within the bounds of copyright's fair use doctrine."
You're using my words and not paying *me* for them. And you're even CRITICIZING my choices and SLANDERING my good name in the process. You MISCREANT, I'll make you pay for this injustice! Just like the Tide Pod Eating Contest and the Pour Boiling Water on Yourself videos, it's not MY fault if I produce a bad outcome for you listening to me.
PEONS. Get your own life and quit interfering with my revenue stream.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
The original video is quite hilarious. He gets wrong almost everything that you can get wrong, and also some things you'd think you can't get wrong! He doesn't even know how to call things, like zip ties are "tweezers" and he calls various things (including the I/O shield) as "braces", the CPU socket a "holder" etc. The serious mistakes are applying a shitload of thermal paste *in addition* to the thermal pad the cooler had, installing the RAM in the wrong slots (non-dual channel), installing the PSU the wrong way, screwing the case radiator in without its fans...
For me the most hilarious parts are two:
- He wears some rubber band (unconnected to anything) on his arm to protect himself from static electricity (!).
- He goes on and on describing how he will use a "CPU applicator" to make it easy to "apply" the CPU, then, without saying anything, it is clear he's thrown it to the side and just drops the CPU in the socket as he should.
The second of the linked parody videos is quite funny too.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS