Yes, he (the author) is absolutely wrong on fair use, at the same time; in the context of making commercial media I can't fault the "get clearance" advice. The

Yes, he (the author) is absolutely wrong on fair use, at the same time; in the context of making commercial media I can't fault the "get clearance" advice. The legal penalties if the court doesn't like your fair use argument are steep. The real reason for the forward would be my cynical evaluation that handling the issue honestly (eg: Actually explaining fair use and that the metrics he cites aren't rules at all.) would just end up with him writing off 3 second samples as fair use per his convenient reading of the law and repeating the same advice unfettered. It's easier to get people to do the right thing for the wrong reason.[0][1] [0]: Though it's a lot harder to divert course later once you've employed this method. (http://lesswrong.com/lw/uz/protected_from_myself/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/uz/protected_from_myself/) [1]: That's not something I do often, either.