YouTube said in a blog post today that it is “committed to supporting new forms of original creativity, protecting fair use, and providing a seamless user experience”, offering what seems like a response to the drama over the past few days involving a number of parody videos on the site.
In what the Electronic Frontier Foundation called “overbroad takedowns of legal content”, a number of video parody remixes of Hitler ranting, dubbed over from the movie The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich (aka Der Untergang), have been removed from YouTube as part of its “Content ID” copyright protection service.
YouTube notes that Content ID isn’t perfect, writing in its blog that “Content ID can’t identify context (like ‘educational use’ or ‘parody’)” and that “rights holders are the only ones in a position to know what is and is not an authorized use of their content, and we require them to enforce their policies in a manner that complies with the law.”
The blog then details how users can “dispute inappropriate claims”, noting that every claim notification includes a dispute form, which immediately puts the content back online and gives the claimant another chance to review the content according to DMCA policy.
In essence, YouTube seems to be stepping in and saying that its automatic system works, but isn’t perfect, and that any disputes should be handled by the parties involved. In short – children, behave and follow the rules.
