OUTRAGE: Political Blackout by YouTube (Financial Crisis Part V)

It was only a matter of time, I suppose.

For all the talk about how the internet was a bastion of free speech, the truth is that too few people own the primary public forums on the net. Which means those forums are their personal property and are good for free speech for only as long as the owners allow them to be.

The outstanding political infomercial, posted on this site and elsewhere around the internet, has been removed by YouTube. As of last night, only V1 was deleted; but V2 and V3 have since been removed as well. YouTube claims that these were deleted due to copyright claims over the soundtrack used.

Let's test that theory. Right now.

The soundtrack of the video is as follows:
Dire Straits--Money for Nothing
Tom Petty--Free Falling
Talking Heads-Burning Down the House
Bonnie Tyler--Holding Out for a Hero
AC/DC--Money Talks
Remy Zero-- Save Me
Survivor--Eye of the Tiger

The following videos, as of 1400hrs CDT 9/30/2008, were found on YouTube. All of the examples I'm posting are apparently unauthorized uses, such as DVP rips, Guitar Hero hacks, amatuer music videos, et. cetra.

Money for nothing:


Free Falling


Burning Down the House


Holding Out for a Hero


Money Talks


Save Me


Eye of the Tiger


YouTube is 0/7. Quite simply, YouTube's argument holds no water.

As for the legal side of this, this is called Fair Use.

§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

The copyright argument is just a cover for censorship. There was a video spreading on the internet that presented facts that, if known by the average voter, could hurt Obama's chances of winning the election. So it was silenced. It's that simple.

Unless we do something very quickly about who controls the public fora in this country, our democracy will be a fig leaf as well.

PS: Here's the link to the video on another site: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6wxmr_burning-down-the-house-what-caused_news