Thursday, May 4, 2006
Why was video of Colbert press corps blast removed from YouTube?Following Cory's posts about Stephen Colbert's amazing performance Saturday at the White House press corps dinner, many BoingBoing readers wrote in to ask:
YouTube has taken down the videos [of Colbert's performance], citing copyright infringement. Since those videos were taken from C-SPAN, which I thought was owned by the public, who owns the copyright and could have asked for the videos to be taken down?YouTube customarily removes copyrighted content at the request of rightsholders, but some troubled readers wrote in asking whether censorship or alien conspiracy theories were to blame in this case. I asked YouTube spokesperson Julie Supan, and she replied:
The Colbert videos were removed at the request of CSPAN, the copyright owner. Many of our users have inquired about whether or not the speech was considered 'public domain' and therefore exempt from copyright protection. Unfortunately, the video footage uploaded was broadcasted and owned by CSPAN.Here's the "Contact Us" page on CSPAN.org.I might recommend contacting CSPAN to better understand the situation from their perspective.
Previously on BoingBoing:
- Stephen Colbert kicks ass at White House press corps dinner
- Mainstream press: Colbert wasn't funny, so we ignored him
- Bush and cronies livid about Colbert's White House gig
- NYT finally notices Colbert's White House gig
- Jon Stewart praises Colbert's White House gig
posted by Xeni Jardin at 10:58:31 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments
