McCain seeks special 'fair use' copyright rules for VIPs

[Mels_Smileys45]

John McCain's presidential campaign has discovered the remix-unfriendly aspects of American copyright law, after several of the candidate's campaign videos were pulled from YouTube.

McCain has now discovered the rights holder friendly nature of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forces remixers to fight an uphill battle to prove that their work is a "fair use."

However, instead of calling for an overhaul of the much hated law, McCain is calling for VIP treatment for the remixes made by political campaigns.

McCain's proposal: complaints about videos uploaded by a political campaign would be manually reviewed by a human YouTube employee before any possible removal of the remix. The process for complaints against videos uploaded by millions of other Americans would stay the same: instant removal by a computer program, and then possible reinstatement a week or two later after the video sharing site has received and manually processed a formal counter-notice.

With 11 homes and 13 cars, it's not terribly surprising that McCain is calling for special treatment for the YouTube videos of politicians. As for the "fair use" claims of the poor starving masses: Let them eat cake.

On Tuesday, the McCain campaign sent a formal letter to YouTube asking for this two-tier system for "fair use" complaints. Copyright-guru Larry Lessig called it a "fantastic letter", adding "bravo to the campaign" in a post to his blog. Since then, the technology press has been pretty supportive, although the focus of the coverage seems to mainly be along the lines of "McCain realizes that fair use claims are uphill battle." This is the wrong message to send, and as much as I respect Professor Lessig, I have to call him out here. He is wrong. McCain should be criticized for his attempt to get special treatment, and Google/YouTube need to treat all users the same way.

All claims of fair use are equal--yet some claims are more equal than others.

The only way we will get an effective overhaul of copyright laws will be by forcing politicians to suffer along with the masses. The minute a special set of rules are made for those in Congress, the incentive to fix the system will disappear. To drive this point home, consider the following:

During the confirmation hearings for Judge Robert Bork, the Washington City Paper obtained a copy of the Republican nominee's video rental records. Alarmed at the possibility that their own rental histories would be revealed by the press, members of Congress jumped to pass comprehensive privacy legislation for the video rental records of all Americans. Up until the Bork fiasco, there had been no real incentive to fix anything, but once the risk to their own records was made clear, Congress acted. As a result, we are now all protected by the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act.

Compare this to the horrible situation at airports. Americans are routinely harassed, prodded, poked and humiliated by employees of the Transportation Security Administration. While we stand in line like sheep, congressmen get to skip through the security lines, avoiding the entire process. Given the fact that they don't have to suffer at the hands of TSA, it's not terribly surprising that they have little incentive to fix the problems faced by the rest of us.

These two examples should make it clear--we cannot allow politicians to receive special treatment in copyright and fair use disputes. If anything, campaign videos should receive substandard treatment. McCain's videos deserve to rot in purgatory at the back of the DMCA queue, behind videos of toddlers, skateboarding dogs, Starwars Kid remixes, and the hundreds of clips of the dramatic chipmunk. Perhaps then, the senator will throw his weight behind comprehensive copyright reform that'll result in real benefits for the rest of the remix-population


cnet

[Excrement_Cranium]

He was also issued a cease and desist for using the Foo Fighters' Hero without their permission.


Pwned.

[Drew Wilson]

He was also issued a cease and desist for using the Foo Fighters' Hero without their permission.


Pwned.

If you think that's pwnage, check this out:

The McCain-Palin campaign has identified the news outlets behind the YouTube removals: CBS,Fox News, and the Christian Broadcasting Network. We noted above that NBC has targeted an Obama-Biden video for removal. That's four news entities that should know better.

Total pwnage!

You know things are screwed up when Fox News sues the Republicans. lol!

[Mels_Smileys45]

No way, Fox is the fair and balanced network

[evilmegaman]

No way, Fox is the fair and balanced network

compared to any of the others they certainly are.



exclude hannity and O'reilly and you have a fairly balanced team.



again, compared to other networks


take reporters with a grain of salt. view situational facts. don't consume bullshit opinions

[mountain_rage]

compared to any of the others they certainly are.



exclude hannity and O'reilly and you have a fairly balanced team.



again, compared to other networks


take reporters with a grain of salt. view situational facts. don't consume bullshit opinions

I've deducted from your post that you think Ann Coulter is sane, and Iraq has WMD's. So I am formally sending an application to have you deemed legally insane.

[DigitalJunkie]

mountain rage,

evilmegaman is only 18, he shouldn't even vote in my opinion. :)

[Mrs Robinson]

So John McCain is demanding VIP treatment. Nothing new there VIPs always get special treatment.

If you're a VIP and someone writes something untrue and damaging about you it is called liable and you sue and get millions of dollars; if your're Joe Public it's called a staff appraisal and you get the sack.

Politicians are always borrowing words, images and policies just imagine what would happen if they had to say something original or give credit to originators.

For example, the US idea t0 buy into banks is just a copy of UK Prime Minister's policy.

Also, does John McCain actually know what the internet is or even what a computer is. He is seventy-two, seventy-two, he remembers a time when a calculator was a person doing mental arithmetic.

Still pee to peeing.

[Excrement_Cranium]

compared to any of the others they certainly are.



exclude hannity and O'reilly and you have a fairly balanced team.



again, compared to other networks


take reporters with a grain of salt. view situational facts. don't consume bullshit opinions

Trying to live that avatar, are you?

Understand that the "liberal media" is any and all media that does not have a blatant right slant.

Then again, I gives a fuck about the word liberal any more. Liberal? Sure, I'm associated with liberty, freedom, and the rights of citizens.

Conservative:

1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.

3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.

4. (often initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.

5. (initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.

6. having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.

7. Mathematics. (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.

–noun
8. a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.

9. a supporter of conservative political policies.

10. (initial capital letter) a member of a conservative political party, esp. the Conservative party in Great Britain.

11. a preservative.


I would say, given existing conditions, as well as some older traditions, I damn sure ain't conservative.

[YWD67]

I've deducted from your post that you think Ann Coulter is sane, and Iraq has WMD's. So I am formally sending an application to have you deemed legally insane.

Brit Hume is not what I would call center either. Not to mention almost every contributer for the National Review that FOX puts on the air on a daily bases.

Say what you will about the other news networks, but you never hear them constantly slam FOX for some of the onesided reporting they do for McCain.
On the other hand that is all you hear coming out of the months of Hume an the rest of the morning balanced Natzi team on FOX.

EM is not insane mountain, he is suffering from repressive parental indoctrination. Give him time to see the world as it is and not as he has been lead to believe.

If he doesn't then you are right he is wacked out of his gourd.

Nothing personal EM just trying to save you from a life filled with nothing but Leave It To Beaver, and Father Knows Best.

[Mels_Smileys45]

Totally. Anyone who says FOX is really fair and balanced is not able to give an unbiased opinion on the issues. Other networks do have reporters that can show a slant one way or the other also but then again their whole network is not founded on right wing politics.

FOX does try to have people on that represent both sides of the picture but when the Democrats start giving their point of view the FOX team starts yelling at them, cuts them off and seem to get angry at their guests. Its pathetic news ethcs at its worst.

[YWD67]

when the Democrats start giving their point of view the FOX team starts yelling at them, cuts them off and seem to get angry at their guests. Its pathetic news ethcs at its worst.

Damn straight Mel! FOX will give anyone that is not on the right the third degree on their views. However if they are on the right, they are given the redcarpet treatment and every word they utter is treated like it came from almighty god himself.
When it is found that one of their fair hairs has said something that was wrong or a lie, you never hear word one from FOX about it.

[Mels_Smileys45]

I found it funny that during the Palin/biden debate that FOX had a call in poll at the bottom of the screen to select who won. The Biden and undecided options where in small white letters and Palin was in bold pink letters in the middle of screen. Not surprisingly FOX reported Palin won the debate by 89%! Thats 89 freaking percent! Come on. If she was that popular McCain would be winning right now.


Most people have decided that can't stand either McCain or Palin. Its like the worst team up to ever run IMO or at least thats how they are perceived and FOX and the right wingers are more to blame for that than the candidates.