Grall
19-Dec-2011, 16:47
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/umg-we-have-the-right-to-block-or-remove-youtube-videos.ars
The above article details how music publisher UMG argues it has the right to remove videos it does not actually own from youtube; not based on copyright law, but rather two paragraphs in a secret agreement between the two companies.
Clearly, corporations hate free speech. If you publish material they do not like to hear, or percieve as threatening to their bottom line, they'll do what they can to silence you.
They did not succeed. Not this time. But corporate power is waxing; the forces of democracy are waning. Some people argue corporations have already taken over political power in both Greece and Italy, while that's probably rather an over-exaggeration, it's still one step in an ongoing march in a singular direction that we've seen both in the US and Europe; more power to those who already have, and less for everybody else.
The above article details how music publisher UMG argues it has the right to remove videos it does not actually own from youtube; not based on copyright law, but rather two paragraphs in a secret agreement between the two companies.
Clearly, corporations hate free speech. If you publish material they do not like to hear, or percieve as threatening to their bottom line, they'll do what they can to silence you.
They did not succeed. Not this time. But corporate power is waxing; the forces of democracy are waning. Some people argue corporations have already taken over political power in both Greece and Italy, while that's probably rather an over-exaggeration, it's still one step in an ongoing march in a singular direction that we've seen both in the US and Europe; more power to those who already have, and less for everybody else.