Geist – IOC has used copyright claims to remove luge accident from YouTube and other sites
Georgian luge hopeful Nodar Muaritashvili crashes during the men's Luge practice at the Whistler Sliding Centre, in preparation for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12, 2010. Muaritash died after flying off the Olympic track during his second of two training runs. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS
Within hours of the death of luge athlete Nodar Muaritashvili during a luge run at the Vancouver Olympics, the video was being posted on the Internet.
The tape clearly shows Muaritashvili losing control, flipping off his luge on the turn and flying up and off the track. It also shows him hitting an unprotected post, seemingly carelessly placed right in the path of anyone who loses it on that turn.
The IOC is now controlling news – it had the video taken down from YouTube and other Internet sites. The IOC claimed it was a copyright issue. However, in both Canada and the US, news stories are exempt from the permission rules of copyright under Fair Dealing and Fair Use.
That only makes sense. How can we report the news if someone could claim a fire at a factory should be banned because it showed their logo, or something they said. Copyright was meant to protect artists rights but not stifle freedom of the press.
This video clip is copyright by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was broadcast by ABC News, along with other broadcast media, both on broadcast TV, cable and on their internet site. NJN Network makes no claim of copyright but it does claim the right to embed and thereby rebroadcast the video used under the Canadian Copyright Act under permission of Section 29.2 ” Fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned: (a) the source; and (b) if given in the source, the name of the…(iv) broadcaster, in the case of a communication signal.”
The story was carried Friday on every major TV network with the footage. The IOC is flexing its fascist muscles again trying to show the world that the Olympics is more important than the law, human rights and almost any issue. As we said before, the IOC feels more and more like the new Catholic Church.
Story from TechDirt and Michael Geist
Olympics Using Bogus Copyright Claims To Take Down All Videos Of Fatal Luge Crash from the fair-use? dept
As you probably heard today, just as reports warning about the luge track at the Olympics were coming out, a Georgian luger crashed and died while on a training run.
It’s a horrible situation all around, but it looks like the International Olympic Committee is trying to stifle the whole thing by using copyright claims to take down videos on YouTube, saying that only those who paid for broadcast rights can show the video.
Now, this could be part of a pre-arranged effort by the Olympics to try to stop any Olympics videos from hitting YouTube, but it shows the problem with such a blanket policy. In discussing news like this — no matter how horrific — it seems you could make a good case for fair use, but that’s not even being allowed here, as the videos are getting taken down very quickly.
And, even if the Olympic Committee thinks that it’s about “protecting” its copyright, it certainly feels like it’s trying to suppress the news of the crash and death.
Scott
Germany 1938-39
The world it seems is more and more becoming more and more like Germany 1938-39.
People in general have all become sheep and are doing exactly what they are told. They believe what they are told to believe and yes kick up a fuss but those are quickly quelled with in a few hours.
The world we live in now is made of more and more by sheep…I hope the public realizes just how much they are being lead around by the nose before it is to late.
Terry McCarvill
Who gives a damn about the legality of the situation? Posting this video is completely and utterly tasteless. Have you given any thought to how the friends and family of Muaritashvili must feel when they see their son/brother/friend in the instant of death, over and over again? Obviously it’s out there already, but why go to such lengths to keep it posted?? Watching the video contributes nothing to our understanding of the event. It’s nothing more than pornography.
The IOC may not have the right to force you to remove it, but your conscience should. Show a little class.
Terry McCarvill
Digitivity | Digital Life & Tools Blog
Terry, the point is that the IOC is covering up malfeasance by banning the videos. The whole reason for the development of legal protections for freedom of speech was the thought that free expression would (through public exposure) prevent the covering up of wrongs.
Whether or not you live in Canada, all governments contribute to the operation of the Olympics (if only through intellectual property laws), so we need to be able to view the evidence to determine if the death of Nodar was actually a manslaughter committed in our name.