Topic: COPYRIGHT - on February 9, 2007 at 2:16:00 PM CET
Unfairly Caught in Viacom's Dragnet? Let Us Know!
As an RIAA spokesperson famously put it when asked about the spectacle of file-sharing lawsuits against innocent grandparents, "when you go fishing with a driftnet, sometimes you catch a dolphin."
Well, with its 100,000 DMCA takedown notices aimed at YouTube users, now it's Viacom that is netting its share of dolphins. Among the 100,000 videos targeted for takedowns was a home movie shot in a BBQ joint, a film trailer by a documentarian, and a music video (previously here) about karaoke in Singapore. None of these contained anything owned by Viacom. For its part, Viacom has admitted to "no more than" 60 mistakes, so far. Yet each mistake impacts free speech, both of the author of the video and of the viewing public.
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