I noticed a disturbing trend ever since Google bought YouTube. More and more clips are being pulled for copyright reasons. First clips from the Cartoon Network show "Robot Chicken" were being pulled. Now I hear that all clips related to Comedy Central shows, including "South Park", "The Daily Show", and "The Colbert Report" are being deleted. It's strange to see these clips, which are among their most popular "copyrighted" clips, being yanked. I'd been adding several classic Daily Show bits (Steve Carrell getting drunk on camera with Steve Carrell for a story on responsible drinking) that just aren't to be found anywhere else. Is this the end of the Golden Age of YouTube, when clips were swapped with free abandon?
It seems to be reactionary on YouTube's part; there is no actual formal charges or lawsuits being pursued, likely just a "third-party notification by Comedy Central,” telling YouTube to purge the clips and YouTube preferring to comply rather than take the time to see if they actually have to or not.
It does seem like a disappointing move by Comedy Central particularly, who benefited from the attention YouTube generated for their properties. "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" both use YouTube on their shows and refer to them in stories. And how many people realized that South Park is still funny after receiving YouTube clips of "Stuck in The Closet"?
Once Comedy Central were the cool teacher, showing "Ren & Stimpy" episodes in class, taking us outside when it was nice out and it fun to find out new things. Now they're that bitter drunk teacher who just gave you a 10 page essay to write on the long weekend and smells like mothballs. I'd show a funny clip to illustrate the point, but YouTube deleted it.
Update: TV Tattle.com says "Comedy Central says it only removed lengthy clips from YouTube. Shortened clips haven't been purged from the video Web site. Only clips encompassing full episodes were taken down. "
Slate.com examines the murky legal waters of copyright law with Does YouTube Really Have Legal Problems?
NY Times: YouTube Is Purging Copyrighted Clips
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1 comment:
It's indeed a shame that the Comedy Central material has been pulled from Youtube, as like you said many of its IPs received revitalisation after being featured on the popular collaborative video sharing site. Let's pray it's not the shape of things to come.
Sickr
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