First, the laughable video:

Apparently, the good people who made this video aren’t trying to monetize it, so it’s OK for YouTube to have it. Ah, hypocrisy at its finest.

As for the video itself, as TechDirt so eloquently pointed out, it’s essentially a “support SOPA or Spongebob dies” approach, and it stinks of hyperbole and a “woe is our company because there’s no SOPA to protect it” approach. Don’t forget about the “we need more of your money, therefore, SOPA is right” approach, either, because it’s definitely available in the video.

It should be noted that Viacom’s view on piracy is not in dispute here. If you get caught downloading a movie you haven’t paid for, you should have to pay the consequences. The problem is, SOPA is not the way to go about it because it gives entirely too much power to the entertainment industry, which has been the major sticking point against SOPA all along.

Ironically enough, Viacom’s quarterly financial report has also been released, and after watching their sob story video, you’d think the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. Yeah, about that. A quick look at the document’s title reveals a much different outlook than the one the video presents:

VIACOM REPORTS DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH FOR FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL-YEAR FISCAL 2011

But, but… didn’t the video essentially plead for people to keep consuming Viacom’s products in such a manner that the money keeps on flowing in, saving the entire Viacom staff from certain doom? So is this more hypocrisy or just an outright lie? Furthermore, when does Viacom get held to the fire for refusing to adapt the technology available? Or, as TechDirt put it:

Nowhere do they talk about making use of what the internet provides to build bigger audiences, to promote better, and to better monetize. Because that’s the kind of stuff that Viacom just doesn’t do. It just begs others to cover up for its own business failures.

It should be noted that full episodes of VH1′s amazing lineup of reality programs are available at the VH1 website, but you wouldn’t know that if you visited Viacom. If you want to actually combat episodic piracy, why not go out of your way to promote the fact these very same episodes are available for free on the website of a property you own instead of making videos that further turn public opinion against you?

Nowhere on Viacom’s site is that knowledge gained. In fact, it was Google that let me know these episodes are available, but yet, it’s a lack of SOPA that causes people to download Viacom’s IP and not a lack promotion? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

That means subscribers now have access to episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba, more episodes of Spongebob SquarePants, True Jackson VP, iCarly, and Dora the Explorer from Nickelodeon, so the children have more things to watch on Netflix.

The content expansion also includes new episodes of MTV’s Jersey Shore and The Hills, as well as episodes of The Buried Life and The City. It also has new shows from BET like American Gangster, and more Comedy Central content like episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program. There is also some amount of unspecified content form VH1, Logo, and Spike.

“We’re pleased to be able to offer programs to suit different ages and tastes and, as always, remain committed to bringing you more great TV shows and movies to watch instantly when and where you prefer,” wrote Netflix VP Content Acquisition Cindy Holland on the Netflix Blog.

Netflix is rapidly expanding its streaming on-demand offerings. Last week, the company announced a multi-year deal with Miramax, which will see the addition of a whole bunch of movies, which when combined, account for 284 Academy Award nominations.

In addition to expanding upon its content offerings, Netflix has also continued to expand upon the number of devices it supports. Recently, the company announced a new Android app that works for some Android devices, and said that they were developing for additional Android devices. As Google’s mobile platform continues to gain market share of its own, compatibility here will be key for continued Netflix growth, especially considering that Google is now renting movies directly from the Android Market and YouTube.

The Virgin America-VH1 music video library is available on the Red inflight entertainment system, which includes videos from popular artists on VH1 networks, including Shakira, John Legend, Lily Allen, Kelly Clarkson and more. The inflight video music library will expand to up to 50 music videos, including performances from VH1 Classic and VH1 Soul networks.

"Virgin America is all about bringing a little fun back to flying and music is a key component of this — from the soundtrack in our bathrooms to the 3,000 free MP3 tracks featured on our in-seat entertainment system," said Charles Ogilvie, Director of Entertainment and Partnerships at Virgin America.

"VH1′s incredible catalog of music videos will take this to the next level, by offering our guests a totally unique and fun onboard music and entertainment experience. All music videos are free of charge to every guest on every Virgin America flight."

Virgin America said soon passengers will be able to make music video playlists and preferences inflight using the Red entertainment system.

Confused? This should help:

1. Chris Knight creates a funny video as part of his campaign Rockingham County Board of Education.
2. Viacom’s VH1 takes the clip from YouTube and uses it in a VH1 segment, without Knight’s permission.
3. Knight’s flattered and uploads the VH1 clip to YouTube.
4. Viacom accuses Knight of copyright infringement and YouTube takes down the video.

Absurd? It doesn’t get any more ridiculous than that!

Knight is obviously feeling victimized by Viacom…

What does this mean for independent producers of content, if material they create can be co-opted by a giant corporation without permission or apology or compensation? When in fact, said corporations can take punitive action against you for using material that you created on your own?

That’s what’s happening to me right now, folks. Viacom is penalizing me for using my own original material, which they used without permission to begin with.

He says he doesn’t have the money to fight Viacom. Maybe Google could chip-in and help or perhaps the EFF might take up the cause.

Want to watch the VH1 clip?

via

Comments

Here’s Your 15 Minutes And Your DMCA Notice

Have a seat. This could take a minute.

A YouTube user submits his video to YouTube and it becomes popular to the tune of millions of views. And the user gets, well, his 15 minutes.

According to YouTube’s terms of use, YouTube gets the rights to sell that video to whomever they like. The user hasn’t forfeited rights to the video, just rights to profit from the upload. YouTube and the user both hold rights to the video as long as the video is on the website.

However, it’s unlikely that the user has a connection to media powerhouses like, say, Viacom, which slapped YouTube’s parent company Google with a billion-dollar copyright infringement lawsuit as soon as the ink was dry on the acquisition papers.

Admittedly, nearly a year later, you can still find virtually any music video you want on YouTube (Viacom owns MTV and VH1) – in fact, YouTube’s pretty much the MTV of the Internet. So Viacom’s concern about their intellectual property is understandable.

What many have taken issue with so far though, is the company’s overzealous pressing of its rights. Viacom sends out DMCA takedown notices like AOL used to send out free CDs. YouTube has blindly complied with the notices, removing content whether or not it was actual infringement in efforts to protect itself.

This led to the MoveOn.org laying some Fair Use bait for Viacom, and a subsequent lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that forced an admission from the media giant that there is, indeed, such a thing as Fair Use. In fact, much of Viacom programming, like Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" rely on it.

As does another show: "Web Junk."

"Web Junk" is a show that runs on VH1 featuring the week’s most popular viral video from the Internet. Much, nearly all, of the content on the show comes from you-know-where.

Now, the irony would be much too sublime if Viacom was violating YouTube’s terms of use that prohibit transmitting YouTube videos in a non-streaming format for commercial use without YouTube’s permission. No, we’ll assume Viacom licensed the videos through YouTube like they were supposed to.

Which means, again, YouTube and Google, who are being sued by Viacom, are also making money from Viacom, who is also making money from YouTube content while the uploader gets his 15 minutes.

But wait it gets worse.

Christopher Knight has a word for one of Viacom’s latest actions: "chutzpa." It’s a Yiddish word, if you didn’t know, for "unbelievable gall or audacity." Knight’s video was viewed a few hundred thousand times on YouTube before being featured on "Web Junk."

He didn’t complain, according his blog post about it, and thought Aries Spears’ commentary was funny. He posted a clip from the episode featuring the commentary on his YouTube video back on YouTube.

You can guess what happened next.

Knight writes, "So Viacom took a video that I had made for non-profit purposes and without trying to acquire my permission, used it in a for-profit broadcast. And then when I made a YouTube clip of what they did with my material, they charged me with copyright infringement and had YouTube pull the clip.

"Folks, this is, as we say down here in the south, "bass-ackwards".

Well, that’s one way to put it. Another way might be to suggest that Web 3.0 comes with some user content rights.

Previous induction ceremonies were only offered on a tape delay basis on VH1.

If you are music fan who is only interested in watching certain performances and don

One of the six exemptions is for the historical preservation of computer software or games. This only applies to technology that is currently obsolete. The ruling says,

Yes that is a mouthful but remember that in five or ten years when you are watching VH1′s “I Love The Oh’s” and Halo 2 will seem like a quaint innocent video game.

Another exemption deals with audiovisual work that will allow educational institutions to bypass digital rights management rules for educational purposes. You can read all the exemptions and recommendations here.

On the Internet Archive thread it thanks the attorneys who worked on changing the DMCA. It states,”

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Mike is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.