"YouTube—Censored?"

Red Herring has an excellent piece on alleged copyright infringement being used to justify censorship:

Following a week’s worth of controversy about her behavior, Fox Broadcasting ordered clips of Paula Abdul swaying, appearing intoxicated, and answering questions on TV news programs in a nonsensical way taken down from YouTube this week.

The move raises questions about where the line should be drawn between copyright infringement and outright censorship. It also shows how quickly an embarrassing piece of footage can become a viral sensation now that videos can be easily uploaded to the web.

“What Fox runs the risk of is using copyright law as a form of censorship,” said Van Baker, an analyst at Gartner Media Service.

...

Any violation of what is known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is grounds for removal of videos on YouTube, a division of Mountain View, California-based search giant Google. However, there are also “fair use” laws that allow some content—such as short clips or satirical depictions of celebrities—to be aired online.

Aggressive Takedowns

“Some people would say this is an overly aggressive use of the takedown procedure [allowed in the DMCA],” said James Nguyen, an attorney who specializes in entertainment and copyright law at the Los Angeles-based law firm Foley & Lardner. “They’re within their rights … but most of the major TV networks don’t ask you to take down their other clips.”

Read the whole piece here.

Comments

[king]

why is all the stuff on 9/11, the proof censored? And who did it? Why won't they let the truth be known

[Seamus Brown]

I have had comments disappear time and time again on YouTube. I have seen responses to my own comments mentioning my browsing habits on YouTube, obviously from insiders.

Granted, I rarely comment, and only just responded to stuff relating to that Loose Change propoganda film (which is affiliated with a YouTube founder); but it appears that there is no respect for impartiality when it comes to politics on these nouveau-dot-com sites.

I am boycotting google and youtube from now on. Censorship should not be tolerated. And their history with China from the beginning shows a callous disregard for freedom of speech from the beginning with these people.

F'k Google!

[Revolutionist]

I wrote a comment on youtube for the video "America is at risk" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY9iXX1fT3A

Anyways, basically stated that the video was Terrorism, and that people will not stand victim to this crap much longer, and about 5 minutes later I was unable to get onto youtube at all...coincidence? I doubt it. heh...no matter, they cannot silence truth.

[sidders2]

I recently posted a comment on youtube regarding the recent earthquake in China. Within a few hours, my comment had disappeared, as had a comment by another user which was of similar context to mine. It seems that youtube would rather have it's comments section filled up with mindless garbage from bored children, than real views and opinions from genuinely concerned (and knowledgable!) users as myself. I think I'll be joining the boycott, and save my comments for places that are willing to consider them.
Freedom? What's that?