4 ms·

My sole encounter with the Youtube copyright police came from posting a two minute, highly edited visual commentary on the film Inception (http://www.youtube.co

My sole encounter with the Youtube copyright police came from posting a two minute, highly edited visual commentary on the film Inception (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6rLEzrWzCw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6rLEzrWzCw), pointing out the religious allusions to Matthew 7.24 and the allegorical significance of the final scene. It was auto-flagged by their system and I had to jump through hoops to get it back online. I can't imagine this sort of thing would survive SOPA. And what other platform is there but the Internet for the sharing of multimedia commentary and criticism?

wmf 15y ago
YouTube isn't the Internet, BTW. I know people have forgotten how to do this, but it is possible to host videos on your own Web site. In that case you probably would have been left alone, or you might have received a DMCA takedown which you could easily defuse with a counter-notice.
- trevelyan 15y ago
  Sure I could have hosted it one of my servers, but that isn't the same any more than posting a couple of links in an Apache directory is the same as sharing it on Reddit or Facebook. And am I supposed to be maintaining a fulltime blog on film criticism in order to share a single video with an audience of people who might care? There's no sane reason we should lose the visibility, distribution and community relevance of social platforms simply in exchange for exercising fair use of something. That said, the point was less about Youtube being unfair and more about how these platforms are already heavily biased against the assumption of fair use.
  - thebigshane 15y ago
    The fact that you were able to get your video back up, (and remains up at the current moment) is testament that this is a decent, but not perfect, solution. And its better than letting Congress enact SOPA, which is my whole my point upward in this thread. I know that's not saying much, but SOPA supporters claim that we can't (or won't) offer any alternatives to SOPA. Since Congress is always in the mindset of "we have to do something", let's give them an alternative that they can support that shows "something is being done".
    - trevelyan 15y ago
      I agree. I was responding more to what I read (perhaps incorrectly) as the insinuation that fair use is well-defined and well-protected. I had read this as implying that it would consequently be protected under SOPA as well.

wmf 15y ago

YouTube isn't the Internet, BTW. I know people have forgotten how to do this, but it is possible to host videos on your own Web site. In that case you probably would have been left alone, or you might have received a DMCA takedown which you could easily defuse with a counter-notice.

trevelyan 15y ago
Sure I could have hosted it one of my servers, but that isn't the same any more than posting a couple of links in an Apache directory is the same as sharing it on Reddit or Facebook. And am I supposed to be maintaining a fulltime blog on film criticism in order to share a single video with an audience of people who might care? There's no sane reason we should lose the visibility, distribution and community relevance of social platforms simply in exchange for exercising fair use of something. That said, the point was less about Youtube being unfair and more about how these platforms are already heavily biased against the assumption of fair use.
- thebigshane 15y ago
  The fact that you were able to get your video back up, (and remains up at the current moment) is testament that this is a decent, but not perfect, solution. And its better than letting Congress enact SOPA, which is my whole my point upward in this thread. I know that's not saying much, but SOPA supporters claim that we can't (or won't) offer any alternatives to SOPA. Since Congress is always in the mindset of "we have to do something", let's give them an alternative that they can support that shows "something is being done".
  - trevelyan 15y ago
    I agree. I was responding more to what I read (perhaps incorrectly) as the insinuation that fair use is well-defined and well-protected. I had read this as implying that it would consequently be protected under SOPA as well.