Freedom Of Expression Decreases As Facebook's Use Increases...

Farhad Manjoo: YouTube vs. der Führer

Posted: April 29, 2010, 9:30 AM by NP Editor Filed under: Farhad Majoo

 

A little more than a week ago Constantin Film sent YouTube the “reference files” for Downfall, the 2004 German movie about the dictator’s last days. Constantin, which owns the rights to Downfall, asked YouTube to find and take down every video that included a clip from the film. YouTube can do this automatically — it plugs a studio’s reference files into Content ID, its copyright infringement search tool, and then mines its video database for any clips that match the files. Over the course of a few days last week, Content ID turned up lots of videos that appeared to infringe on Downfall. The system blocked them all. But Content ID is a soulless computer program; it doesn’t understand sharp political satire, trenchant sports commentary or biting cultural criticism. Content ID thus couldn’t tell that it was pulling down videos that were likely protected by the fair use exception to copyright law. Many of the Downfall clips on YouTube were inspired by one of the funniest Web memes around — videos showing Hitler fuming about the war paired with English subtitles that reveal him to be angry about something altogether less serious. Among the videos Content ID removed were those of Hitler ranting about getting banned from Xbox Live, Hitler finding out about Michael Jackson’s death and Hitler finding out that bloggers remember him mostly as an Internet meme.

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Facebook application raises privacy concerns

Thu Apr 29 2010 

A new Facebook application that could be used by advertisers to target users based on their personal preferences and those of their friends is raising privacy concerns in Canada, experts say.