The Tyranny of YouTube

Well friends we have enjoyed many months of service at YouTube under our ‘youtube.com/cheneywatch’ address. This afternoon we had the account suspended for posting the latest JibJab video that was aired at the Radio and Television Correspondence Dinner last Friday night, June 19th. Barack Obama spoke right after and was then followed by John Hodgman. We posted the video because it was in context of the evenings events, all of which was aired on the cable news networks during the broadcast. While we understand that JibJab seeks to protect its rights, the lack of appeal, the lack of ability to respond with respect to a removal request, and the blatant work by YouTube to avoid being contacted leaves us to ask…

Why Use YouTube?

My first answer would be, because we have met so many incredible people. The Second has been that we indeed served our viewers news they wouldn’t have seen because they were at work, or they don’t have access to these channels, or whatever the reason. And third, it is the most viewed location on the web for video.

But it turns out JibJab wants to sell their clip for $5 directly through YouTube now. This means that from now on, you are going to be facing increased commercialization of YouTube’s video clip system, their militant “content identification system”, which repeatedly claims FoxNews owns Countdown clips, etc, and that if a news network decides to make money at their exclusive window to history….you better not bother capturing it and reposting it.

Fair Use:
Fair Use is a more than a catchy term, it is what will be necessary to preserve our history. Case in point has been the restoration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech in Washington D.C. that now faces the future of becoming dust because the owners won’t allow others to copy and restore it, and they lack the money to do so. Therefore, our only authentic copy of the speech will die because the copyright holders can’t seem to get their act together.

What if this happens with CNN, Fox, MSNBC, NBCBSABC?
These networks capriciously cover news and then bury it as fast as they get the next scoop. They actively contribute to the collective amnesia of the United States. It was the interest of the CheneyWatch volunteers to keep track of the news that passes by.

We have thousands of tapes and discs of history and will begin posting the important clips from our channel, and we will be posting at our temporary new channel, Cheneywatch1.

What do you think? What should YouTube do when people post clips that might be covered by copyright, but are at the same time newsworthy? We aren’t posting Hollywood movies, or your latest sitcom shows, we are posting NEWS.
Share your thoughts.