The Mind\’s Eye

“Entertainment giant Viacom Media says it will sue web search engine Google and its video-sharing website YouTube for £517m ($1bn). Viacom alleges that about 160,000 unauthorised clips of its programmes have been loaded onto YouTube’s site and viewed more than 1.5 billion times. In response, Google says that it is “confident” that YouTube has respected the legal rights of copyright holders. As well as more than £517m in damages, the legal action seeks an injunction to prevent what Viacom calls “massive intentional copyright infringement”.”

- Taken from BBC News

Until recently, I used the video-sharing website in question in order to provide videos for TME and for displaying other videos that no one else had. The majority of these were old TV adverts from the 80′s and 90′s that were no longer shown on British TV (Guinness, John Smiths, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, etc.). Mixed up amongst these were a few music videos too, the most popular being “Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure. Now, they are all gone.

I received an email the other week, a DMCA Notice, informing me of my ‘criminal behaviour’ and that the video that had caused such a grievous infringement had been removed from my account. In truth, what YouTube/Google had done was immediately delete everything I had posted and revoke my account without giving me the chance to remove the ‘offending’ video or even offer a second chance. I was guilty of theft and that’s all there was to it.

If it looks like it, smells like it, then it must be it. Bullshit.

The DMCA (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998) is a U.S. copyright law that criminalises production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services that are used to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works and criminalises the act of circumventing an access control, even when there is no infringement of copyright itself.

The DMCA has been criticised for making it too easy for copyright owners to encourage website owners to take down infringing content and links when it may not in fact be infringing. When website owners receive a take-down notice it is in their interest not to challenge it, even if it is not clear if infringement is taking place, because if the potentially infringing content is taken down the website will not be held liable. Many sites are receiving DMCA notices and taking down links to infringing material as a result.

Why is DMCA bad?

The DMCA gives publishers the power to prevent you from printing a page, loaning a book to your friends or in some cases, even reading it out loud. For example, if you purchase and download an electronic book from the Internet and figure out how to circumvent the reader software so that you can print it out to read in the bathroom, the DMCA makes what you have done a federal crime, and if you tell anyone how you did it, you can be looking at a fine of up to $500,000 and 5 years in prison. The DMCA gives publishers the power to lock books, songs, and movies up with reader, player, or viewer software, and to threaten anyone who examines the software with legal action. The DMCA affects everyone because it gives corporate publishers absolute control over what we are allowed to do with the literature and music that they publish.

Nothing is done about Acts of this nature (The European Union passed the EUCD or EU Copyright Directive in 2001) since large, political, donations come from the music, movie, and publishing industry lobbyists.

Those of you that have seen “The Corporation” must remember that they were unable to use the well known ‘Happy Birthday’ song.

What was my offending and criminal video?

None other than “Personal Jesus” by Marilyn Manson. The interesting point here is that after discovering that I had been branded a thief and had my account removed I searched their engine and found several versions of the video, and many others from MTV or other Viacom owned stations, still available to watch. Whether that remains to be the case I do not know since I have not visited the website since nor shall I in the future.

While the technology exists for people to ‘rip’ the videos (or just the audio) from YouTube so that they may play them back on their PC or video iPod, not everyone does that. Many that used the website did so because they wanted to watch home-made videos (that may have contained music from Viacom ‘owned’ media) or live videos from their favourite bands. Some just wanted to catch music videos they had never seen. Where I am located in the world it is not possible to view music videos at VH1, MTV, AOL, or any of the others! They are blocked because I do not live in the ‘correct’ region. If ripping was the issue here then there are ways to hinder it for the majority of net users (the rest will just download music DVD’s instead).

From looking at the comments that I received from the classic TV advertisements which I had posted, most people were grateful at having had a second chance to see something they remembered from their youth. One of the videos was a VHS rip from some 20+ years ago! Those that had commented on The Cure video I have previously mentioned were all fans of the band who took delight in being able to see an old video that rarely sees play time on the media today. Instead, we are force-fed reality-TV created horse-shit with their ‘bubblegum’ bands.

Surely,these bands would delight in having people watch their efforts? Do we also need to pay to view low-quality videos even though we may have bought their albums or seen their concerts? When is enough enough for the media industry? Did they perhaps miss understand the idea of a video-sharing website? This is not file-sharing and no one is making any money from it… oh wait… yes they are… Google. It is not ripping or artist rights that are the problem… it is money.

Viacom and Google play a game of chess with those that made them what they are. Viacom needs the extra money… someone needs a pay-rise! Of course, by playing their videos, which I never claimed to be my own work (and which I usually linked to their artists websites or even the albums on Amazon), I am depriving them of funds. How about promoting their interests for free?

As a result, TME lost all of its videos that were posted. Now they are back.

How long will it be, I wonder, until they tattoo my wrist with a number?

We are the weak that build up the strong, never daring to believe that we can just as easily destroy that which we create… we are never allowed to believe.

+ Blaze +