Flutterby™! : EFF gets it wrong. Again.

Next unread comment / Catchup all unread comments User Account Info | Logout | XML/Pilot/etc versions | Long version (with comments) | Weblog archives | Site Map | | Browse Topics

EFF gets it wrong. Again.

2009-02-04 16:04:17.741593+00 by Dan Lyke 1 comments

Educated Guesswork looks at the EFF and YouTube, specifically EFF: YouTube's January Fair Use Massacre, in which an aggrieved young teen complains that YouTube yanked a video of her singing "Winter Wonderland".

Now the particulars of which party complained may be wrong, but it sure seem like whoever Dick Smith and Felix Bernard assigned the rights to should still have a say in how their creative work gets used. I'm not gonna claim that every home video that gets shown to the grandparents needs clearance, but it sure seems like when somethings up and public on YouTube, Google shouldn't bne making money off of it unless those who hold the copyrights on the creative work get recompence. ASCAP and BMI manage to get every small restaurant in the country, why aren't they getting licensing fees out of YouTube?

[ related topics: Free Speech Food Work, productivity and environment Civil Liberties Pop Culture Currency Video ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2009-02-05 01:38:31.82753+00 by: Ben Williams [edit history]

"ASCAP and BMI manage to get every small restaurant in the country, why aren't they getting licensing fees out of YouTube?" I think that's precisely the problem: there is no collective licensing arrangement for the Internet like there is for radio and live performances, and so far the copyright holders haven't allowed it. All we have now is the DMCA which allows Time Warner to takedown the Winter Wonderland video you were trying to send to your grandparents. EFF is fighting the DMCA abuses and advocating for collective licensing.