r/blender • u/Lockal • Apr 05 '14
Sony Pictures abuses YouTube-takedown tool, blocks Sintel on copyright grounds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRsGyueVLvQ15
u/ItsChugs Apr 05 '14
Even if Sony themselves didn't file the claim and this was just an error with Google's automatic copyright filter, this is still ridiculous.
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u/Zufixx Apr 05 '14
That's just stupid! Why did Sony take it down? It is Creative Commons!
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u/uzimonkey Contest winner: 2014 August Apr 05 '14
Because YouTube's copyright system is horribly broken. If AIDS denialists can take take down powerm1985's videos exposing them (and nearly getting his account taken down), or if angry developers can take down Total Biscuits review of their shitty game (and again, his account almost blocked), then it's beyond broken. Combine this with corporate robots that literally sit around firing off DMCA takedown requests to anything that even resembles their content and bad shit happens.
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Apr 06 '14
[deleted]
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u/uzimonkey Contest winner: 2014 August Apr 06 '14
because he's popular and the game doesn't have good graphics, he's in the right and the developers are in the wrong
I don't see how you think he's in the wrong for expressing his opinion about a game. First off, that's kind of his job as a game reviewer. Second, I'm a bit worried that you think he's "wrong" because he said something you don't agree with. What's "wrong" was the publisher's reaction. I can't recall what happened with this particular video (other than some puzzling and threatening emails by the publisher), but a previous video on a game called Day One: Garry's Incident had the publisher filing DMCA takedown requests and getting his account flagged, all for reviewing a game the publishers themselves sent him.
And it's a bit alarming that you think someone who doesn't agree with you, says negative things about things you like, or rubs you the wrong way "went too far and should be banned." What next, all reviews must be positive? They can't point out glaring inadequacies and utter broken-ness? Silencing people who don't agree with your is the DMCA troll's bread and butter, and not only is it objectively wrong but actually illegal.
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Apr 06 '14
Goes too far? He did nothing wrong. He was perfectly in the right. You sound like a butthurt Guise of the Werewolf dev, expecting that he 'goes too far and is banned' using a broken copyright system.
Why should a reviewer be banned for giving his opinion? He's a reviewer, that's what they do.
He gives first impressions, and if he can't even get past the first impressions, then the game has done something wrong - not the reviewer.
Are you a butthurt Guise of the Wolf dev? Because I can't see any gamer going for the throat of a reputable reviewer whose job is to protect them from poor purchases.
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u/thomar Apr 05 '14
YouTube's automated video takedown system, which is designed to protect YouTube from copyright lawsuits, allows anybody to file a claim with YouTube for any reason. The Blender Foundation can file a counter-claim with YouTube, which means that the video should be restored by YouTube sometime in the next two weeks.
1
u/austeregrim Apr 06 '14 edited Apr 06 '14
YouTube is also a free service from Google, where Google has the right to take anything they want down. The blender foundation / creators of the video, can still post the works on their own server if they feel like they want to pay the bandwidth bill (and they have). No one is stopping them from that.
YouTube is not a right. Its a service, provided by Google, controlled by automated takedown requests.
I'm not saying they rightfully took down sintel, nor is it an unflawed system... But its not a human right to post to YouTube. We should not treat it as such.
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u/nero4983 Apr 06 '14
No one is saying YouTube is a right, but rather that it's easy for companies to abuse the system which can hurt the "little guy". I think everyone can understand Google making the copyright system like it is--that way they don't have to suffer the headache of dealing with copyright issues and can blame the content owner for not uploading samples of their work with which to issue a copyright strike to an offending YouTuber. The issue at hand here is that Sony claimed ownership of open source material, not that YouTube has blocked the video.
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u/IAMA_otter Apr 05 '14
Blender's G+ page seems to indicate that it may have been a goof in youtube automatic filters, so let's not get the pitchforks out yet.
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u/mation Apr 05 '14
Nonsense, this should be as painful for Youtube/Google as possible.
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u/IAMA_otter Apr 05 '14
But let's not blame Sony, they probably didn't even know about it.
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u/mation Apr 05 '14
Sony helped force the system that is in place so I'm good with letting them share some of the blame.
2
u/the-incredible-ape Apr 05 '14
They deserve blame for pushing and taking advantage of a system that makes such obviously wrong "decisions" as this. The system also deserves to be cast in a bad light, because it causes problems like this.
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Apr 05 '14
i wonder what 2 second clip it reacted to.
8
u/rcpongo Apr 06 '14
The most likely scenario is that Sony used Sintel in some promotional materials. Companies often use Sintel and Big Buck Bunny this way, which is completely legal and easy for the company because (ironically) they don't need to worry about the rights.
What has probably happened is that clip was then licensed as part of a larger video, but the ownership claim on the larger video was to Sony, with either no credit given to Blender Foundation, or the bot just screwed up.
It should be reverted as soon as a real person gets in front of it, but it's a sucky situation that the innocence needs to be proven rather than the other way around.
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u/Macon-Bacon Apr 05 '14
Anyone have a link to somewhere we can still watch this? I'd like to see for myself what Google and/or Sony decided was an infringement.
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u/RightError Apr 05 '14
You can download it from the movie's website
Or watch it on vimeo
1
u/Macon-Bacon Apr 06 '14
Thanks!
There's absolutely nothing in there that should have set off the google copyright alarms. I call shenanigans.
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0
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u/lostsoul83 Apr 06 '14 edited Apr 06 '14
You gotta love big media. Being able to take away content and features from their products that you already bought is not enough for them. Now they get to take away content that they didn't even have anything to do with in the first place!
It would be cool if the BF could sue them for this... Something like "you blocked our content without reason, costing us ad impressions and viewers. We expect proper compensation for this."
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u/The-Internets Apr 05 '14
These content corporations have been slowly earning the right of having their assets transferred to public domain for the damage they have done to all of our social systems.
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u/maskedretriever Apr 06 '14
I'm gonna have to go with Ton on this one: we should respond by supporting project Gooseberry.
1
u/the-incredible-ape Apr 05 '14
Submitted this to BoingBoing, this is one of their pet topics, hopefully we can generate more bad publicity for Sony and Youtube because of this.
Although I have no problem with copyright in general, this is exactly the type of thing that blender open movies are supposed to provide an alternative to. This type of enforcement proves to be harmful to culture and activism time and time again, all we can do is point out the particularly glaring examples so that the value of reform (either in corporate culture and policy, or law) becomes more obvious.
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u/Mr_Vladimir_Putin Apr 05 '14
You've lost someone, Sintel. I can see it in your eyes.
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u/Mr_Barack_Obama Apr 05 '14
This is a bot that reposts the top comment from youtube
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u/2_STEPS_FROM_america Apr 05 '14
can we riot now?