takedowns
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Netflix says it's only obeyed nine government takedown requests
Netflix hit the headlines last year when it pulled an episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj that was critical of Saudi Arabia from its streaming service in the country. As it turns out, the company has only ever removed titles or episodes nine times after formal takedown requests from governments.
YouTube is making its terms of service easier to read
If you visit YouTube today, you'll see a pop-up window alerting you that the platform's Terms of Service will be updated on December 10th. The new terms do not change the way YouTube treats your info, and YouTube isn't changing how it uses creators' content, but it is clarifying a few of its policies.
Facebook is building a tool to hunt copyright infringing videos
YouTube isn't the only site record labels are taking issue with when it comes to copyright infringement. Financial Times reports that music publishers want Facebook to license music that gets posted on its site and take down any user-submitted videos that contain copyrighted content. The first step is said to be handling all the copyrighted material that's posted to the site's News Feed in the form of cover songs and other footage. As part of the effort, Facebook is said to be working on a copyright identification system, similar to YouTube's Content ID, to help police what's published.
YouTube foots the bill for video makers to fight copyright takedowns
YouTube is no stranger to cases of copyright infringement, and it's lending a hand to video creators who are involved in the disputes. The video-hosting site says that it will cover the legal fees for a few content creators that are fighting the demands of copyright holders with fair use claims. It's only offering support in four cases right now, but the company doesn't rule out expanding that number in the future. By offering assistance, YouTube hopes to not only educate the masses on fair use, but also foster loyalty among users who house their content on the site. "We want, when we can, to have our users' backs," said YouTube's legal director for copyright Fred von Lohmann. "We believe even the small number of videos we are able to protect will make a positive impact on the entire YouTube ecosystem." The new policy also helps combat the takedowns of legally posted content, keeping videos that should be available to the masses online. [Image credit: AP]
Google adds copyright takedowns to Transparency Reports, 1.2 million a month and growing
Google has been publishing what it's dubbed Transparency Reports for some time now -- detailing things like government requests to remove content from search results or requests for users' information -- and it's now added another big chunk of data to them in the interest of full disclosure. Starting today, you can see the number of removal requests it receives from companies over copyright and piracy concerns. As you can imagine, there's a lot -- over 1.2 million in the past month alone, a number that Google notes is increasing at a substantial rate. Among those asking for takedowns, Microsoft is by far the leader, filing well over half a million requests all by itself in the past month (the film and music industries are also, of course, well represented). You can pour through all the results yourself at the source link below.
