My material at Rabbit Bites is clearly fair use, a satire published at sites like Salon.com that vetted the material for copyright violations. Even so, I have suffered from  automated tools that scanned YouTube  and then falsely identified some of my videos as infringing. While it is understandable why this kind of program would be desirable to copyright holders, and YouTube, it clearly does not work except with a very heavy hand, unable distinuish between fair use and abuse.  This is  very chilling to free speech.

Today, I read in ReadWriteWeb:

The organization has put
out a call to people who have had videos taken off of YouTube at the
behest of Warner and whose videos were both noncommercial and
substantially original. The EFF says it will help serve a counter
notice and offer legal protection to as many people as it can. “We
can’t promise to take every case,” they say, “but neither will we stand
by and watch semi-automated takedowns trample fair use.”

It’s limited, but at least it’s a start, and puts an end to bullying by companies with money for fancy software!

There’s been a lot of talk about YouTube’s post on killing sound on videos that use copyrighted music.  People are complaining that it’s making things more restrictive over there, but the fact is, they will already take down your video if it it uses anything with rights reserved if someone complains. 

From what I understood reading their blog, it seemed like YouTube was trying to take the lesser evil, simply muting instead of a takedown for what is already and offending piece. Somebody has to complain,say the music’s theirs, AND that they don’t want it used,  before YT mutes it. Many music authors or performers won’t complain because things like Rickrolls are promotional. They could complain mind you, but they get something out of it, so why bother.

Films that use music for some type of critique are more vulnerable.  The real problem, is the DMCA, which favors established  folks with deep pockets. A complaint puts all of the burden on the person using any music, many of whom are kids or struggling artists. Complaints can be filed frivolously, at a whim. Satire is a particularly vulnerable area  because it is often critical, and there is a grey area as to what should be considered fair use. If you see something uncritical or unflattering of your music, that uses a piece of that music,  just complain. The complaint will probably be stifled unless the person wishes to defend themselves. If they are poor (and aren’t we all these days), they probably won’t. This is a mute on free speech that squashes dissent.