When enacted in 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was necessary for the United States to comply with treaties for the protection of copyrighted works in the digital age. Though much maligned and misused, one seemingly straight-forward aspect is to protect copyrighted works from illegal distribution on the internet. Technology exists which automatically identifies copyrighted work that requires licensing to be uploaded or downloaded.
Imagine my surprise when I found a VHS copy of Yakov Smirnoff‘s What a Country! on YouTube. Whether the person uploading knew or care about copyright infringement is immaterial; I would have expected Content ID – YouTube’s rights-management system – to detect/flag/remove the video. Yet the video is still accessible six years later.
I do not accept arguments that the video’s low quality confuses or tricks Content ID into allowing the video to remain: Content ID claims that it is not duped by poor quality or changed resolution or adding noise or whatever, though many remain frustrated by its perceived overreach when identifying what it sees as copyrighted work. Uggh.
Perhaps most telling is that no one bothered to remove the FBI Warning. How Content ID missed this blatant red flag is curious, but perhaps indicates there remains some major issues with the technology despite YouTube’s continued efforts to improve it.
