The latest episode of Social Network Slavery is the Viacom Copyright Grab of Joanna Davidovich’s [1] short film she created, Copyrighted, and posted to YouTube.
Copyright and 2 bucks will get you a cheap cup of latte.
This is interesting on a number of counts.
First, the terms of discovery in the YouTube Viacom Copyright Infringement lawsuit, turned over allegedly non personal information logfiles, so Viacom could attempt to circumvent the Safe Harbor Provision of Section 512 of the DMCA, [2] and place YouTube, as the largest copy thief on the planet. So now it looks like the first thing Viacom is doing is making a land grab for everything that is not nailed down.
Second, according to Joanna, there is a distribution agreement between her and Viacom. she says,
“only entered into distribution agreements that were nonexclusive.”
I have no details on this currently, but as a guess, it probably assigns the copyrights to Viacom.
The defect in this agreement and with every other social network site, are the Terms and Conditions that these sites make you agree to, before posting anything.
Let me take a moment and explain what you are giving away to the Social Network Content Plantations.
a worldwide, fully sub-licensable, fully paid-up and royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, and create derivative works
You gave it all away and for free. See if the word Chump fits
I have written on this before.
[3] Facebook - Emerald City’s Newest Sharecropper Network
[4] A Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web - The Sharecropper’s Revolt
[5] Social Network Bill of Rights
The most pathetic part of this is you have done it to yourselves.
Third, and most important is the lack of value of Copyright and the lengths that the Entertainment and Publishing Industries have gone to turn Copyright into an Entitlement Program for themselves, while perverting the the spirit of Copyright for Creators, Musicians, Authors, Filmakers, and everyone who has a novel artistic idea.
Everyone who participates in Social Network Sharecropping sites is at best a share cropper and at worst a slave. Your participation fills their pockets, and is not going to change anytime soon. They are not chumps.
You may get a couple minutes of fame, they get to sell your ass down the river forever for free.
Sources:
[1] Viacom Fraudulently Claims Ownership Of Indie Filmmakers’ YouTube Clips
[2] Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) about DMCA Safe Harbor Provisions
[3] Facebook - Emerald City’s Newest Sharecropper Network
[4] A Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web - The Sharecropper’s Revolt
[5] Social Network Bill of Rights