Back in 2006 US media powerhouse (wooh that sounds impressive!) Viacom was poised to buy YouTube. But they were beaten to the punch by omnipotent Internet majordomo (I’m on a roll!) Google who paid US$1.65bn for the video sharing site.
Big fat hairy deal…..
Well it would be if Viacom hadn’t immediately sued YouTube/Google for US$1bn for copyright infringement. It’s quite ironic as Viacom’s whole aim of acquiring YouTube was to seed it with it’s own shows and videos to raise profiles and profits galore. So you could argue that it was sour grapes.
You’d think that would be that and “see you in court bozos!” would be the end of it. But it would appear that Viacom forgot one very important fact about Google. That fact? Google is practically The Internet! What Google don’t know about the tinterwebs is only because they haven’t invented it yet. So when they check their logs you can be pretty sure that they are sure that the IP adresses used to upload copyrighted Viacom shows are actually Viacom related IP addresses…..
Funny how it is alleged by Google that those same Viacom related IPs continued to upload copyrighted Viacom material AFTER filing the suit for copyright infringement. Surely that’s tantamount to complaining about your neighbour’s dog, then covering yourself in dog food and doing star jumps in their garden while making cat noises…..
I had thought that dirty tricks went out the window with the last millenium, but it would seem that some people are incredibly hard of learning. But ho-hum, it takes all sorts.
Here’s two links (out of many, many links) reporting the shenanigans:
New Statesman
The Guardian (UK Press)
But what has that to do with me (or you)? Quite a lot actually. Or nothing. It depends on what you do and how you do it. I watch videos on YouTube and I also put videos on YouTube. The videos I put up technically infringe copyright, despite the fair use argument. The intro bits are safe – I created them and so hold complete copyright over that….but the rest…..
Well there lies a grey area. In my first video I used the song ‘Macarena’ by Los Lobos (because it’s the best song every made – that’s why!) as there was no in-game sound. YouTube picked that up, marked it as copyrighted and due to restrictions placed by the copyright holders it is currently blocked in Germany. So no Spanish-esque pop mayhem for my little knödel chums.
The real grey area is the gameplay – and all gameplay videos on YouTube. Unless you have specific permission from the game copyright holder (normally the publisher) then you are technically breaching copyright law if you subsequently upload a gameplay video. Thankfully most publishers have a relaxed and/or forward looking view of the subject and take no action as gameplay videos undoubtedly help their sales. I’m sure that if you uploaded a video absolutely slating a game and the publisher got wind of it they would soon take it down though.
There have been rumours recently on YouTube about gameplay being taken down due to copyright issues. Ken Burton mentioned it in one of his videos and stated that he will only be uploading gameplay to Machinima from now on. However, from my perspective, the removed videos have probably breached copyright via their soundtrack rather than the gameplay content. The music copyright police are much keener on infringement than the game publishers. For this reason I think that montage makers are generally digging their own graves unless they use their own music or that to which they have been granted permission.
In general you are most likely to have gameplay videos taken down if the title is not yet released or is from a demo of the game. If you ever pay attention to the load screens on many demos they do go on about it being verbotten to record and distribute the gameplay which is fair enough as in many cases the demo is pre-release and subject to change.
Hopefully common sense will prevail and we’ll all be able to continue pretty much as we are now without the threat of the FBI kicking the door in because we decided to share our gaming experiences with others.
Peas and loaves.
Find me on PSN – evaDlivE
YouTube CC, KEN, and Another Hauppage Update
March 5, 2010YouTube CC
I love Google and what they do so don’t take this as Google/YouTube bashing, but their new innovation on YouTube is, as the cool kids say, FAIL. What is it if you haven’t seen it? Closed Captioning – or subtitles to us in the UK. They’re designed for people with hearing difficulties, by printing out the dialogue on screen. I use them, not because I’m hard of hearing, but when you have kids/babies in the house it’s the best way to watch the telly because the kids are asleep, or are awake and playing LET’S MAKE AS MUCH NOISE AS POSSIBLE EVERY TIME SOMEONE SPEAKS ON THE MAGIC BOX.
Anyone who regularly uses subtitles or close captioning will know a couple of things about them:
1 – On pre-recorded programmes and films they are great
2 – They’re not always word for word with what is being said
3 – They are typed by deaf illiterate chimps for live programmes like the news
So here’s the thing, YouTube/Google have implemented a beta Closed Captioning service on the videos, I tried it on mine……hilarity ensued. You’ve got to try it – choose any video at random. It’s like when the first speech recognition came out…..
KEN
In Ken Burton’s QA video he answered the question about what can actually be done about online douchery. Here is his answer:
Obviously it’s not a perfect solution, but this is not a perfect world, otherwise there wouldn’t be any douchebags to mute, thus rendering the KEN campaign moot. What the KEN tag really means is that the person wearing it is not going to indulge douchey bullshit. That’s it.
Hauppage Update
Okay, I know from experience that people who buy on ebay have a real problem with actually reading the title, description or even looking at the pictures, but there is only so much you can do to make it as clear as possible what you are selling. So when I put my surfboard on there I put in MASSIVE RED LETTERS collection only, the P&P section said collection only, so I was surprised when a guy from the other side of the country was the winning bidder and then emailed me to ask how much delivery would be…….yup.
Anyway, hopefully that’s sorted, and as long as he pays and doesn’t mess me about it means that I’m about two thirds of the way to the Hauppage which I will now be getting from Play.com. I can get it for a couple of quid (literally) cheaper from some other supplier, but I’ve never heard of this other company and I have dealt with Play before.
In other news:
Gameplay tonight – Mercenary Team Death Match. Using mainly the blinged FAL with silencer and holographic sight, Spas with grip, claymore, stun grenades, Stopping Power Pro and Ninja Pro. Although on the last game on Underpass I had to change to my Anti-Air class as my team was totally outclassed and had to shoot down the enemy air support to stop it being a complete rout. I was also using my Cheap Freaks on sensitivity 7 and was playing fairly conservatively as I need to get used to this new set up.
Maps and outcome -
Underpass – Win – 6-2
Karachi – Win – 7-2
Estate – Lose – 6-6 (stupid sniper in the garage)
Underpass (again) – Lose – 6-3
Definitely not beast scores, but apart from Estate I think I upheld my Two Commandments fairly well.
Peas and loaves.
Find me on PSN – evaDlivE
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