Warner Music takes on Larry Lessig
p2pnet news view | P2P | Music:- Speaking of Warner, “If there were anyone out there to whom you would not want to send a random takedown notice for an online video, it would probably be Larry Lessig,” posts Mike Masnick on TechCrunch.
No kidding.
The people behind Warner Music can never be accused of being particularly smart.
But this?
Smooth move, genius, whoever you are.
“Lessig has announced that Warner Music issued a DMCA takedown on one of Lessig’s own presentations, in which his use is almost certainly fair use. Lessig, of course, is a lawyer, and a big supporter of fair use, so it’s no surprise that he’s also said he’s going to be fighting this,” says Masnick, adding:
“The thing that I can’t understand is who at Warner Music would decide this was a good idea? We’ve seen Warner make a number of highly questionable moves over the past six months, but this may be the most incomprehensible. Warner Music may claim it was an accident or that it didn’t mean to send the takedown, but that’s hard to fathom as well. The DMCA rules are pretty clear, that the filer needs to clearly own the content, and previously lawsuits have said they need to take fair use into account. I’m guessing we haven’t heard the end of this yet …”
Nothing to guess about, Mike. We haven’t
Definitely stay tuned, and while you wait …
Warner – Warner Music in Top 50 list, April 29, 2009
TechCrunch – Not Smart: Warner Music Issues DMCA Takedown On Larry Lessig Presentation, April 28, 2009
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April 29th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I don’t think this would be the result of any live person at WMG doing this.
It’s more likely another classic example of what happens when computer algorithms are allowed to trawl and automatically remove anything that contains even a part signature of suspect material.
Not that it should make WMG (or YouTube!) any less accountable for what happened.
This practice has already resulted in far too many false takedowns, and should be never have been allowed in the first place, as anyone with half a brain could have predicted the result.
April 29th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
yes it is , admit it , they don’t like what he says and will now blame it on some BS automated system thats never worked right , and of course keep doing crap like this , just like the CEO’s son can bit torrent freely and not get sued or trouble
April 29th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
I just set up a robot with machine gun on board heading toward the MGM head quarter.
The embarked software is designed to make the robot attack any moving target who is hostile to america once inside the corporate office. Thi device worked well with El Quada.
Hoops! Oh Well! never mine this. This is not me this is the computer. Sorry MGM!
April 30th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Easy fix for this:
1. Repeal the DMCA
2. Reduce copy”right” terms to 7 years with NO RENEWALS, and place a clause that any attempt to even ASK for extension of copyright terms will immediately result in everything then under copy”right” immediately going into the Public Domain.
3. Eliminate “corporate personhood”.
4. Corporations to be renewed every year, pending complete transparency as to their inner documentaiton. ANY irregularities result in immediate revocation of corporate privilege and loss of all IP-related “assets” (such as copyrights, patents, and trademarks).
5. In case of wrongdoing by a corporation, the “veil” between corporate and personal assets should be completely revoked, but ONLY for CEOs and board-members.
6. Corporate earnings taxed at 75 percent (to offset the massive amount of government subsidization involved in the mere fact that it IS a corporation.) Other business-structures not taxed at all.
(Conservatives are always blathering about how “taxing” something serves as a “disincentive”, maybe if the government taxes the hell out of corporations, there’s less incentive to FORM the damn things.)
April 30th, 2009 at 7:54 am
hehehe..
Henry Emrich’s ACTA Wish List…
April 30th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
@Henry:
I hear ya!
The whole corporate protection racket thing is totally out of control.
I seem to remember there was a time when “corporations” were only allowed to exist for specific purposes and had to be disbanded after that purpose was accomplished. (Hmmm… For a second there I though I was talking about copyright history!)
April 30th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
DA:
Yeah. The whole thing started to go wrong with corporate “personhood”.
I dunno about you, but the mere idea of granting a business-structure the same rights as REAL human beings, while insulating those who run such business from the consequences of their actions is just a recipe for disaster.
1. If corporations are “persons”, then they become entitled to stuff like freedom of speech, freedom from “unreasonable” search and seizure, and involvement in political lobbying. That’s just a bad idea, because by design, for-profit corporations “care” about exactly ONE thing: short-term profitability. ALL other potential concerns (human rights, ecological impact, etc.) are merely viewed as “externalities” to be dumped on “somebody else” — governments, the consumer, whatever.
2. The “veil” between corporate and so-called “personal” assets means in principle, that no matter what the CEO/board directs the corporation to do, there won’t be any real impact on THEIR life. Trust me, these guys are wealthy enough that even if their corporation collapses or they get fired, they’re not going hungry any time soon.
But hey, almost nobody dares to even bring this stuff up, especially here in the U.S. (where everybody just HAS to slobber over themselves singing the praises of “the free market” while completely ignoring the fact that the mere existence of corporations AT ALL represents a really huge “subsidy” to the businessmen USING such a structure.
In essence, the corporation is a “social safety-net” for businessmen, and the recent “bailout” thing shouldn’t have suprised ANYBODY.
The “free market” is a pernicious lie. Our economies are every bit as “centrally-planned” as the most “total” of totalitarian states. The only difference is, the “plan” involves letting corporate businessfolk do whatever they damn well please.
May 1st, 2009 at 12:32 pm
@Henry:
“I dunno about you…”
Everything you’re saying completely mirrors my own opinion on it.
The “corporate person” is allowed to operate and function as an individual, yet no bound by the same accountabilities as a natural person.
You can’t seem to directly charge a “corporate person” for the crimes commited collectively by that corporation.
A “corporation” seems to also enjoy more protection from failure. The “bailout” scenario points this out quite effectively.
And, just today I’m reading how the Senate completely rejected all proposal to help the victimized homeowners, though the corporate world was totally responsible for creating the disaster, and the Senate itself was instrumental in putting the homeowners in that position in the first place.
They’ll run the Fed’s presses night and day if necessary, at a COST, in order to give $billions$ of taxpayer-subsidized currency to AIG and all the other fatcats, but couldn’t “justify” implementing plans for the working stiff that were merely asking for temporarily longer terms and lower interests. All the corporate welfare recipients immediately start distributing the spoils to themselves and their cronies as bonuses, and actually get to keep their jobs (which really should have been one of the biggest issues), while the homeowners and other working class (the backbone of the Western Economy) might as well start selling drugs.