Wow..didn't think it had been THAT long..
(Librarians are hiding something)
Holy shit it's almost the end of march already!
I actually wouldn't be updating now except something caught my eye whilst watching the Colbert Report tonight on comedy network. Particularly awe-stricken to me was the interview where Stephen Colbert was caught in a heated debate with John Perry Barlow, Electronic Frontier Foundation's main..law..making..guy... Essentially this man is part of the company EFF which is countersuing Viacom (Colbert Report's parent/host company) who is suing Youtube for not taking down those wonderful clips of daily show and colbert report we all know and love.
Viacom wants all their videos pulled because it is content that belongs to Viacom that is being distributed-whether you like it or not-illegally. EFF is in turn suing Viacom for breaching some form of the first ammendment on the internet. Personally, I'm guessing it's because the internet is so massive that it shouldn't be, essentially, privatized and should remain a completely open air for ideas.
Interestingly enough I actually have to side with the EFF on this one. And I hate to say that because of this:
1.EFF sues Viacom
2.Viacom goes out of business
3.Goodbye Daily Show and Colbert Report
But despite the potential loss of my heroes of television, here's why I side with EFF:
Viacom has no solid reasoning behind suing youtube.
If you've ever been to youtube you'll know it has well into the hundreds of millions of members worldwide. It would take an inconcievable amount of time to filter out every single video uploaded that actually violates Viacoms copywrite laws, not to mention how much money and time would go into constantly monitoring new uploads and new members for anything else that breaches the copywrites- (and I won't get into that if Viacom can accomplish their suit, other companies that will demand their content get pulled as well- increase the amount of manpower and time spent simply monitering for compywritten content infinitly) The amount of time and effort and money that would take to work like a well oiled machine would easily put even youtube out of business especially when coupled with a heavy lawsuit from a company like Viacom (which virtually OWNS all of comedy central)
Let me say one thing. I've downloaded my fair share of music illegally from *cough* services in my lifetime. In fact I'm listening to one of them now. But I still go out and buy the cd. I've done it for almost everything I have. I'd bet my balls it's the same for youtube. I can almost guarentee you that anyone who watches those small clips on youtube will be more than willing to go out and purchase the dvds when they go on sale. Also, anything that's been on youtube is something that has been shown on television already. You will never see one clip that is uploaded before its aired. Viacom is worried about losing ratings- they're worried about losing money-The good majority of their income is from ratings when the show is aired on television- do they think anyone will stop watching the show on tv? Are they really saying that their viewers would rather watch reruns than brand new material? Think about that. If it's true- not only do they have bigger problems than youtube, but even if youtube wasn't there, no one would be watching anyway because if that logic is followed the new shows must not be that great.
So as far as I can tell they're reasoning for demanding youtube be stripped of their content is pretty groundless. You may have noticed I didn't rant about the free speech thing. Well I think that's a little redundant. Sure freedome of speech ("expression") is the most wonderful gift we can have as a society and it keeps me out of guantanamo bay for posting things like this, but unfortunately I'm put in the very awkward position of hating hippies. And the freedome of speech thing is something a hippie would hapr about. I'd provide a graphic of a 'hippie harp' but I'm not going to be bothered at 12:30am.
night
Holy shit it's almost the end of march already!
I actually wouldn't be updating now except something caught my eye whilst watching the Colbert Report tonight on comedy network. Particularly awe-stricken to me was the interview where Stephen Colbert was caught in a heated debate with John Perry Barlow, Electronic Frontier Foundation's main..law..making..guy... Essentially this man is part of the company EFF which is countersuing Viacom (Colbert Report's parent/host company) who is suing Youtube for not taking down those wonderful clips of daily show and colbert report we all know and love.
Viacom wants all their videos pulled because it is content that belongs to Viacom that is being distributed-whether you like it or not-illegally. EFF is in turn suing Viacom for breaching some form of the first ammendment on the internet. Personally, I'm guessing it's because the internet is so massive that it shouldn't be, essentially, privatized and should remain a completely open air for ideas.
Interestingly enough I actually have to side with the EFF on this one. And I hate to say that because of this:
1.EFF sues Viacom
2.Viacom goes out of business
3.Goodbye Daily Show and Colbert Report
But despite the potential loss of my heroes of television, here's why I side with EFF:
Viacom has no solid reasoning behind suing youtube.
If you've ever been to youtube you'll know it has well into the hundreds of millions of members worldwide. It would take an inconcievable amount of time to filter out every single video uploaded that actually violates Viacoms copywrite laws, not to mention how much money and time would go into constantly monitoring new uploads and new members for anything else that breaches the copywrites- (and I won't get into that if Viacom can accomplish their suit, other companies that will demand their content get pulled as well- increase the amount of manpower and time spent simply monitering for compywritten content infinitly) The amount of time and effort and money that would take to work like a well oiled machine would easily put even youtube out of business especially when coupled with a heavy lawsuit from a company like Viacom (which virtually OWNS all of comedy central)
Let me say one thing. I've downloaded my fair share of music illegally from *cough* services in my lifetime. In fact I'm listening to one of them now. But I still go out and buy the cd. I've done it for almost everything I have. I'd bet my balls it's the same for youtube. I can almost guarentee you that anyone who watches those small clips on youtube will be more than willing to go out and purchase the dvds when they go on sale. Also, anything that's been on youtube is something that has been shown on television already. You will never see one clip that is uploaded before its aired. Viacom is worried about losing ratings- they're worried about losing money-The good majority of their income is from ratings when the show is aired on television- do they think anyone will stop watching the show on tv? Are they really saying that their viewers would rather watch reruns than brand new material? Think about that. If it's true- not only do they have bigger problems than youtube, but even if youtube wasn't there, no one would be watching anyway because if that logic is followed the new shows must not be that great.
So as far as I can tell they're reasoning for demanding youtube be stripped of their content is pretty groundless. You may have noticed I didn't rant about the free speech thing. Well I think that's a little redundant. Sure freedome of speech ("expression") is the most wonderful gift we can have as a society and it keeps me out of guantanamo bay for posting things like this, but unfortunately I'm put in the very awkward position of hating hippies. And the freedome of speech thing is something a hippie would hapr about. I'd provide a graphic of a 'hippie harp' but I'm not going to be bothered at 12:30am.
night
posted by Chris Nagy at 12:30 AM
2 comments
