YouTube Weighs In on Hitler, Parodies, Mashups & Fair Use
YouTube said in a blog post today that it is "committed to supporting new forms of original creativity, protecting fair use, and providing a seamless user experience", offering what seems like a response to the drama over the past few days involving a number of parody videos on the site.
In what the Electronic Frontier Foundation called "overbroad takedowns of legal content", a number of video parody remixes of Hitler ranting, dubbed over from the movie The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich (aka Der Untergang), have been removed from YouTube as part of its "Content ID" copyright protection service.
YouTube notes that Content ID isn't perfect, writing in its blog that "Content ID can't identify context (like 'educational use' or 'parody')" and that "rights holders are the only ones in a position to know what is and is not an authorized use of their content, and we require them to enforce their policies in a manner that complies with the law."
The blog then details how users can "dispute inappropriate claims", noting that every claim notification includes a dispute form, which immediately puts the content back online and gives the claimant another chance to review the content according to DMCA policy.
In essence, YouTube seems to be stepping in and saying that its automatic system works, but isn't perfect, and that any disputes should be handled by the parties involved. In short - children, behave and follow the rules.
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> noting that every claim notification includes a dispute form
Sounds good, but from what I've heard, when a video is taken down by Content-ID -- there is no notification. At least Brad Templeton said he got no notification here -- http://ideas.4brad.com/studio-does-content-id-takedown-my-hitler-video-about-takedowns
As for "In short - children, behave and follow the rules" -- not the position I'd expect you to take on this. The companies that use Content-ID and send DMCA notices don't care about the rules -- they just nuke stuff because they can, and there's really no penalties for them doing so, even if the rules (laws) say they shouldn't do that.
Either you misread or I mistyped. The follow the rules part is what YouTube is saying IMO. I'm basically saying that YouTube just said "here are the rules and the tools to use. You figure it out. " I wasn't taking a stance there at all.
The makers of Der Unterfall are morons if they don't immediately cancel the content ID match thing on that Hitler scene immediately. It gives them huge promotion.
Well it appears they "may" reactivate your video in question if you state that it is within fair use guidelines. That means they still have to approve it.