John McCain doesn’t like DMCA enforcement–maybe he should have thought of that before he voted for it.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (much loathed by the likes of EFF and free speech nuts like myself) requires action by content providers when asked to take down content by someone who claims said content is an unauthorized use of their copyrighted material. (For the fair use nuts in the crowd, did we catch that the accusation is for “unauthorized” rather than “violative” use?). Specifically, YouTube has a policy of taking down videos when they receive what are called “DMCA Takedown Notices”. Apparently, John McCain’s campaign ads have been hit with so many of these notices (presumably by netizens offended by his vote for the DMCA) that he went to YouTube to ask for political content exception to the DMCA copyright rules.
Fabulously, YouTube responded by saying no, and adding:
YouTube would like Senator McCain to beef up the old fair use doctrine, “so that intermediaries like us can rely on this important doctrine with a measure of business certainty”
(the quote is by Zahavah Levine, YouTube’s General Council. She is quoted in The Register’s article on this news).
Yeah, John McCain. Tough Noogies.
Inspirational Quote:
Thomas A. Edison – “What you are will show in what you do.”
