Algorithmic Copyright Cops: How YouTube shut down Michelle Obama's speech

Source: Wired

As live streaming video surges in popularity, so are copyright “bots” — automated systems that match content against a database of reference files of copyrighted material. These systems can block streaming video in real time, while it is still being broadcast, leading to potentially worrying implications for freedom of speech.

On Tuesday, some visitors trying to get to the livestream of Michelle Obama’s widely lauded speech at the Democratic National Convention were met with a bizarre notice on YouTube, which said that the speech had been blocked on copyright grounds.

... Copyright bots are being wired into that infrastructure, programmed as stern and unyielding censors with one hand ever poised at the off switch. What happens if the bot detects snippets of a copyrighted song or movie clip in the background? Say a ringtone from a phone not shut off at a PTA meeting? Or a short YouTube clip shown by a convention speaker to illustrate a funny point? Will the future of livestreaming be so fragile as to be unusable?

... Kembrew McLeod, a professor at the University of Iowa and author of several books on copyright and culture, including Creative License and Freedom of Expression, said that the so-called copyright “bots” don’t have the ability to take fair use into account. In the case of the Hugo Awards, the takedown was apparently triggered by footage of an episode of Doctor Who being shown immediately before Gaiman accepted an award for his work on Doctor Who — a scenario which implies fair use, even if the clips hadn’t been cleared ahead of time.

Read more: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/streaming-videos-robotic-overlords-algorithmic-copyright-cops/all/