Last week, PZ reported that an atheist You Tuber’s account had been suspended after he posted a video in which he “read some excerpts of violent passages from the Koran, with no commentary at all”. Apparently the heathen in question, one Nick Gisburne, is just the latest in a long line of heathens to face the awesomely soul-crushing wrath of You Tube. And atheists aren’t the only ones offending You Tube’s delicate sensibilities; last week, I favorited Anna Nicole Smith’s anti-fur ad (shot for PETA), only to find a few days later that the video had been removed and the user’s account suspended. Now, I highly doubt that PETA asked You Tube to remove the vid and ban the user - because they actually encourage people to download and post their stuff far and wide, from You Tube to MySpace to…well, whatever the yung’uns are into nowadays. Not to mention, the user’s profile gave the impression that s/he represented PETA, what with the distinctive moniker (PETATV) and the exclusively PETA video archive.

Now, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF):

As an RIAA spokesperson famously put it when asked about the spectacle of file-sharing lawsuits against innocent grandparents, “when you go fishing with a driftnet, sometimes you catch a dolphin.”

Well, with its 100,000 DMCA takedown notices aimed at YouTube users, now it’s Viacom that is netting its share of dolphins. Among the 100,000 videos targeted for takedowns was a home movie shot in a BBQ joint, a film trailer by a documentarian, and a music video (previously here) about karaoke in Singapore. None of these contained anything owned by Viacom. For its part, Viacom has admitted to “no more than” 60 mistakes, so far. Yet each mistake impacts free speech, both of the author of the video and of the viewing public.

If they are making these kinds of blatant mistakes, who can tell how many fair uses of Viacom content they also targeted in their 100,000 takedowns? Hundreds? Thousands? If Viacom made a clear mistake and your clip contains no content from Viacom-owned copyrighted works, sending a simple DMCA counter-notice to YouTube may be enough to do the job. But if you’re attempting to make a fair use of Viacom’s works, it may make more sense to go to court to assert your rights. More information about your options is available at the Fair Use Network.

Has your video been removed from YouTube based on a bogus Viacom takedown? If so, contact information [at] eff.org — we may be able to help you directly or help find another lawyer who can. In this situation, as in so many others, EFF will work to make sure that copyright claims don’t squelch free speech.

Quite fittingly, the EFF recorded their call and uploaded it to You Tube:

Spread the word.

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Tagged: eff electronic frontier foundation animal rights animal welfare religion atheism You Tube censorship Viacom capitalism discrimination free speech

Originally posted @ www.kellygarbato.com/blog/2007-02-15/
Filed under: Censorship — Kelly @ February 15, 2007 1:19 pm