Viacom steals video, issues take down notice to the artist August 30, 2007
Christopher Knight made a video as part of his campaign for Rockingham County Board of Education and posted it on Youtube last fall. A little over a month ago the cable network VH1 took the video he made from Youtube without permission and used it in their for-profit television show Web Junk 2.0. Knight wasn’t upset about that. He was pleased that so many more people got to see his work than he expected. So he put a clip of the VH1 segment showing his own video on Youtube.
Yesterday he got a letter from Youtube. It seems that Viacom had the clip containing the work they pirated taken down for copyright infringement.
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Viacom International Inc. claiming that this material is infringing:Web Junk 2.0 on VH1 features my school board commercial!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddyVQwpByug
On his blog Knight brings up questions we all should be asking. “What does this mean for independent producers of content, if material they create can be co-opted by a giant corporation without permission or apology or compensation? When in fact, said corporations can take punitive action against you for using material that you created on your own?” Vaicom is heavy handed in it’s copyright infringement patrol but they don’t seem to have a problem violating copyright them selves. It’s not just fair use thats under attack these days. We the people are too.
US Pirate Party announces registration in Utah August 10, 2007
The state of Utah is one step closer to having another officially recognized political party. The Pirate Party of the United States announced they are accepting statements of support in the state of Utah. This is a first step in the registration process to become officially recognized as a political party. The party has until February 2008 to gather the 2000 signatures of registered voters required making Utah the first state in the US to have a state Pirate Party.
Andrew Norton, spokesperson for the Pirate Party said “Voters in Utah are now one step closer to being able to voice their opinions on the key issues our party stands for” .
Fair Use Day supports The Pirate Party of the US and their efforts in Utah. If you would like to support them get involved, learn about the issues, and join the forum.
Boycott Regal Cinemas August 9, 2007
Fair Use Day is joining the call for a boycott of Regal Cinemas .
Jhannet Sejas was celebrating her 19th birthday with her boyfriend when she took a 20 second video clip of the movie “Transformers” to show to her 13-year-old brother. Minutes later the Marymount University sophomore was hauled off to jail for illegally recording a motion picture.
This is not the kind of world I want to leave to my children. This isn’t the kind of world I grew up in. This isn’t the kind of world they deserve to live in. Things should get better for our youngest generation of people. This is just sad and ridiculous. What will a boycott accomplishment? It will send a clear message. Treat us like criminals and we will stop coming to your theater.
We have the responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen again. This young lady did not intend to distribute 20 seconds of a video for monetary gains. She just wanted to show her brother. Do ya think he will want to spend money to see it now?
You can find Regal Cinemas in your area here
More on the story…
Free Culture @ NYU Boycott Regal Cinemas
Slashfilm.com Teen Arrested for Recording 20 Second Movie Clip
Washingtonpost.com Out of the Theater, Into the Courtroom
BoingBoing.net Boycott Regal Cinemas for suing over 20-second clip
Consumerist.com Regal Cinemas Facing Boycott After Pressing Charges Again Teen “Pirate”
Free Download 11, Please Share Labrador’s Summer Sampler August 5, 2007
When a major record label bends even a tiny fraction of an inch away from their old world busyness model the press goes wild. Independent record labels treat their fans much better and they do it all the time but they hardly ever get noticed in the mainstream media. Labrador Records is one of those independent labels giving away their Summer Sampler as a 68 track (mp3) download for free. They tried to release this years free download on their own servers but things didn’t work as planned. Heres how they put it.
“Well, putting the massive 68-track Labrador Summer Sampler 2007 on our server didn’t work quite as smoothly as we’d hoped. I don’t know if we overestimated our server or underestimated the need of good music this summer. Either way, it’s been taken care of now.
Download Labrador Summer Sampler 2007 from Piratebay here!”
You can download the entire sampler via torrent (~350MB ) or listen to full releases from Labrador’s artists here. This is a good example of how P2P file sharing helps connect independent artists and record labels to their fans. And it’s all free and legal! And Please share it on The Pirate Bay!
Free Download 10, “Good Copy, Bad Copy” August 2, 2007
The folks that produced the documentary “Good copy, Bad copy” have released it as a free download (link to Pirate Bay torrent) Thanks /.
This is a great film about our culture in the digital age and the impact copyright law has on artists today. This is a must see film which includes interviews with Girl Talk, Danger Mouse, Lawrence Lessig and more.
