YouTube, Fair use, and just what the hell is going on lately?
So here I am tonight writing something up about our do nothing congress writing a signed document stating that republicans are vowing to do nothing in regards to nominating a new judge to the supreme court until President Obama is out of term when I notice a video that our friend Marzgurl posted on her accent about YouTube and recent wackiness that’s been going on with their enforcement of copyright and the taking down of videos.
First off I’ll say it. I don’t have a horse to race with this subject. I don’t make YouTube videos, I write. I’ve entertained doing video content, but life gets in the way. BUT in posting here and some of my other ventures I’ve got the chance to interact with a lot of content producers and have a few friends now getting into the same. So I do keep my eyes on this, and even if it’s in the 3rd party, I still have an interest in this whole thing.
Anyway, the current round of silliness that is YouTube got started about a few weeks back when the Nostalgia Critic made two videos detailing an issue they had with YouTube putting sanctions on his channel for supposed copyright violations. They couldn’t upload anything more than 15 minutes long, and make no money off their vids whatsoever. He detailed how awful YouTube was in fighting these violations, and then posted again how these punishments had been lifted randomly for no reason.
Last week he posted a 20-minute video titled “Where is the Fair Use?”.
Explains things fairly well doesn’t it? Since this video was posted a LOT of reviewers have added their views, experiences, and thoughts on the process and what is going on. But Marzgurl posted a video that is meant to empower people, especially people who are just starting out or want to get into the field.
This is a message that needed to be said and I’m glad she did. This is about companies taking advantage of a flawed system. Protecting against streaming is one thing, but that doesn’t enter into any of what’s been going on. The point should be made that while I was watching this video and typing this up, Team Four Star, the folks behind the DBZ: Abridged Series had their YouTube account taken down because of copyright claims made against them (TFS made it clear it was not Funimation though).
You know Fuck YouTube. Here is my plea to anyone reading this. If you, YES YOU, follow anyone on YouTube and they run into similar issues, make noise and make it known that they are fucking up. Complain the holy hell and let them know what is going on is unfair to content creators. Tell them their system is flawed and they are full of it. We may not have the legal resources that Google does, but damnit this isn’t going to change unless we as consumers, creators, and entertainers start pushing back.
#WTFU indeed.
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