YouTomb Joins Chilling Effects In Tracking Takedowns
from the tracking-the-takedowns dept
The DMCA lets copyright holders send takedown messages to various sites, demanding allegedly infringing content be taken offline. It’s been rather successful in doing that. A few years ago, a great site, Chilling Effects sprung up to track all sorts of takedown notices (not just having to do with copyright, but any kind of cease & desist threats — though DMCA takedowns are common). It’s a joint effort by the EFF and a bunch of universities, and has been invaluable in tracking the efforts by some to threaten people into taking down various types of content. Now, in a similar effort, MIT is sponsoring a site that will track takedowns of videos on YouTube. The site is creatively named YouTomb. This isn’t to say that the copyright holders are wrong in sending the takedown notices — but it’s important to collect information and data on how often these tools are being used and by whom to get a better understanding of whether the system really makes sense.
Filed Under: chilling effects, copyright, dmca, mit, takedowns, videos, youtomb
Comments on “YouTomb Joins Chilling Effects In Tracking Takedowns”
two words
due process
Re: two words
You beat me to it. See Corporations Assuming Police Powers
Re: two words
Due process?
We don’ need no steenking due process! (Cue Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine up and over: “We don’t have to care. We’re the phone company.”)
Actually I’d settle for indemnifying people whose postings were mistakenly targeted by DMCA notices — for example in cases where the companies demanding the DCMA takedown didn’t actually own the copyright or the posting was clearly fair use.
Neat!
I wonder if easy access to such data will at all alter how some things are taken down…
not involving copyrights but
Many of these take-downs, when they involve certain religions, seem to come from pro-Islamist groups. They seem to post all sorts of propaganda, sometimes threatening toward other religions, but are quick to demand anything critical of Islam be removed “or else”.
YouTube and other hosting sites are often very quick to comply when the demands come from these groups, but not always when complaints arise about pro-Islam posts. Maybe it has something to do with how mean the non-Islamists appear?
TechDirt just keeps getting farther off track
“This isn’t to say that the copyright holders are wrong in sending the takedown notices”
The very notion of “copyright” is a harmful farce. “Copyright holders” are merely greedy, delusional parties supported by corrupt government fiat. And while it may not be wrong for such parties (regardless of their mental problems) to send a “takedown notice,” it’s counterproductive for anyone to respond to them, rather like feeding trolls.
Re: TechDirt just keeps getting farther off track
I thought techdirt is very critical and skeptical about the copyright and patent system.
I think techdirt would have said that patent and copyright are mostly unneccessary.