NUL Copyright and Scholarly Communication

Copy Rites: YouTube vs. Kevin B. Lee

A lively recent discussion on the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) listserv draws attention the problem of trying to claim fair use on YouTube. Kevin Lee, a freelance critic who posts links to his video essays from his blog Shooting Down Pictures, found some 300 of his multimedia essays removed by YouTube on January 12. (read Lee's two posts from January 12 when the clips were disabled, again on January 20, and January 21, when the clips were restored)

Sometime collaborator Matt Zoller Seitz commented at length on the situation on the blog The House Next Door: Copy Rites: YouTube vs. Kevin B. Lee .

"Kevin has copies of all his work, and I'm sure it will show up again somewhere, sometime. But the obliteration of YouTube as a global platform for his voice is a crime of greater magnitude than anything he did to create the video essays in the first place. YouTube is the town square of the 21st century—rather like a gigantic virtual mall that is, technically speaking, a private space, but which operates as a public sphere: a gathering spot, a cultural and political crossroads. By scourging Kevin's work from this crossroads and banning his video essays—and, potentially, all similar work—from YouTube, the company is allowing the powerful to muzzle the near-powerless. And it is endorsing the idea that in cases involving intellectual property law and the Internet, filmmakers can be deemed guilty, silenced, then made to plead for their right to speak."

(follow the thread on AMIA-L here: YouTube deletes Kevin Lee's critical video essays)

by Claire Stewart | News | TrackBack