[A2k] YouTube's Copyright Filter: New Hurdle for Fair Use?

[Mark Perkins lists]

YouTube's Copyright Filter: New Hurdle for Fair Use?
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/10/youtubes-copyright-filter-new-hurdle-fa
ir-use
Posted by Fred von Lohmann

Google has announced its long-awaited copyright filtering (or "video
identification," if you prefer) mechanism for YouTube. Based on initial
reports and discussions with Google, the system will be good news for
copyright owners and bad news for people who post unauthorized verbatim
copies of popular copyrighted material. But what about the fair users, who
have made YouTube the platform of choice for remix culture? Unfortunately,
it looks like YouTube's solution may put them in jeopardy.

The problem is that YouTube's video identification technology can't discern
whether a "match" results from a verbatim infringing copy, or whether it
results from a short excerpt embedded in a longer piece that includes other
content. Recall Michelle Malkin's commentary on rapper Akon, which was
erroneously taken down by Universal Music Group. In that case, two excerpts
from Akon music videos were embedded into a longer commentary about the rap
star.

Unfortunately, it appears that the video identification system announced by
YouTube would have blocked Ms. Malkin's video, based on the "match"
generated by the music video excerpts.

YouTube does allow users to "contest" blocking at the hands of the new video
identification mechanism. At that point, the clip will be referred to the
rightsholder for manual review. While this may rescue some fair users (I
assume Malkin would have contested a block on her video, as would MoveOn for
its "Stop the Falsiness" parody of The Colbert Report, the victim of a bogus
takedown notice from Viacom), many may not be willing to put themselves in
the crosshairs of movie studio lawyers.

So what can YouTube do to protect fair users? Here are two things:

   1. Add audio track identification and insist on a video and audio match
before any automated blocking of content. YouTube is already using Audible
Magic's audio fingerprinting tool to identify the audio used in uploaded
videos. If the audio track doesn't match the video track, that's a good
indication that we're talking about The Vader Sessions, rather than an
infringing upload of Star Wars.
   2. Add a test to determine what ratio of the uploaded video is comprised
of content claimed by a rightsholder. A test like this would have rescued
both Michelle Malkin's Akon commentary and MoveOn's Falsiness parody. After
all, if the "match" is only 10% of the entire video, that's a good
indication that we're talking about transformative content, rather than
verbatim copying.

----
Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info

https://keyserver.pgp.com/