My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation • Hacker News Board

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#21

Post by jacquesm » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 9:54 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #12

rossjudson wrote: post #3

You probably got hit with a number of DMCA takedown requests. You've filed a counter-notice, which will put the content back up. But you have to wait until that occurs, which could be a while. You may not have done anything wrong, for this to occur. All it takes is someone willing to _say_ that you infringed on their copyright. I think you can sue the issuers of the takedowns, if they are fraudulent.

You can, but good luck. Filing a counternotice gets you the name (and I think the IP address) of the person that filed the notice, but considering that #1 is just a form input box and #2 is useless for identificiation purposes... This was likely the act of someone with an axe to grind, not any violation of YouTube policies.

This is the counter notification section of youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/t/copyright_counter

The final line reads:

> We may then reinstate the material in question at our discretion.

So it's a toss-up if they're actually going to do something but they will reveal your information to the party that claimed infringement. That seems to be a pretty lousy deal.

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#22

Post by jacquesm » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 9:58 PM UTC

FireBeyond wrote: post #13

TheAmazingIdiot wrote: post #2

When people while about getting 'removed from friends list' like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo, MSN networks... If it is free, they can do this anytime they like. Your proper answer is to set up your own server and do it yourself. I guess taking it public and getting responses from individuals in that company is your response. Still doesn't mean you shouldn't set up shop in your own right.

To be fair to the parent, he does have a point. You are in no way entitled to the free use of such a service. It's great that it's provided and all, but in the end, there may be some, or no, reason, that they want to pull the plug, on you, on a subset, or the entire service. "Entitled" blogs, rants and the like (and to be clear, this entry didn't strike me as particularly entitled, but disappointed) are more the act…

I run an online service that has been going since 1998. There are lots of instances of abusive behaviour there. We have a whole range of ways to deal with these and we feel that as long as users operate within the terms of service that they have a right to participate. Selectively withholding access for capricious reasons would be discriminatory behaviour. On top of that you never know how big a role your free service plays in someone else's life. Banning users / deleting content is a decision that you should not take lightly as a service provider.

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#23

Post by d2vid » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 10:13 PM UTC

pasbesoin wrote: post #16

I'll share my personal response. I suspect I'm not alone in this. Google is incurring and running up against some real trust issues. I haven't always agreed with their decisions, but even when I became discouraged, I'd still glean information and news that showed or hinted at concerned, ethical people behind the closed doors. But... the continuing lack of a public, human interface to their endeavors, and the increasi…

I've been running into bad google experiences lately. I have a work email address that uses google for domains, and my account was completely disabled by google about a week ago with no response yet to my repeated contact attempts. Their error message was not exactly comforting, it included the following:

Google reserves the right to: Terminate your account at any time, for any reason, with or without notice.

I don't particularly care about that particular gmail account, but it's terrifying that they believe they have the right to do the exact same thing to my personal gmail account, which I definitely DO care about. That seems unethical, even if it's perhaps legal.

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#24

Post by donniezazen » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 10:24 PM UTC

I strongly believe that we should start treating user data as a physical object. A law should be passed that would restrict scope of online vendors. Vendors should be free to stop providing services but not violently cut off users and delete all his/her personal data.

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#25

Post by dangrossman » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 10:25 PM UTC

TheAmazingIdiot wrote: post #19

ratsbane wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the nature of the internet, even that's not a fix. If you set up a server, your ISP could shut you off in response to DMCA demands. I suppose you could find an off-shore server, but nothing's foolproof.

YouTube does automated dispute handling. They aren't even DMCA complaints. So they have no real burden. Hosting with The Pirate Bay would seem like an option. They seem to have 'stop shutdowns' stopped pretty well.

Only a select group of content companies have access to that system. Everyone else has to file notices to the DMCA agent as anywhere else, and Google has to honor those notices and counternotices or it can be held itself liable for the infringement.

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#26

Post by jmettes » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 10:28 PM UTC

I'm a bit worried now reading this post, since I want to run a webseries[1] on YouTube too this year. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening to me? YouTube would be the easiest way to get it out there, being its own source of traffic in its own right. However, would Vimeo be a better option here? Obviously I could also run it from the website directly (e.g., cloudfront), but free services are always good too... :-)

[1] http://www.baznsnags.com

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#27

Post by alexjmann » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 10:28 PM UTC

rpledge wrote: post #10

Why aren't you posting your content on the other services you mentioned anyway?

In my experience producing web video content (especially if you plan on eventually selling ads against it), it's best to aggregate it on one platform. And traffic and visibility-wise, YouTube is the place to do it.

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#28

Post by rhizome » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 10:29 PM UTC

d2vid wrote: post #23

pasbesoin wrote: post #16

I'll share my personal response. I suspect I'm not alone in this. Google is incurring and running up against some real trust issues. I haven't always agreed with their decisions, but even when I became discouraged, I'd still glean information and news that showed or hinted at concerned, ethical people behind the closed doors. But... the continuing lack of a public, human interface to their endeavors, and the increasi…

I've been running into bad google experiences lately. I have a work email address that uses google for domains, and my account was completely disabled by google about a week ago with no response yet to my repeated contact attempts. Their error message was not exactly comforting, it included the following: Google reserves the right to: Terminate your account at any time, for any reason, with or without notice. I don't…

I've come to assume that, like Paypal, they are trying to go as long as possible without implementing customer service.

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#29

Post by gknoy » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 10:30 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #21

Karunamon wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, but good luck. Filing a counternotice gets you the name (and I think the IP address) of the person that filed the notice, but considering that #1 is just a form input box and #2 is useless for identificiation purposes... This was likely the act of someone with an axe to grind, not any violation of YouTube policies.

This is the counter notification section of youtube: http://www.youtube.com/t/copyright_counter The final line reads: > We may then reinstate the material in question at our discretion. So it's a toss-up if they're actually going to do something but they will reveal your information to the party that claimed infringement. That seems to be a pretty lousy deal.

Doesn't your account also get wrecked after you've received a certain number of takedown requests, regardless of their validity?

Re: My Web Series Was Suspended by YouTube Without Explanation

#30

Post by gesman » Wed, Jan 16, 2013, 10:32 PM UTC

If your videos are acceptable to Vimeo (they have anal TOS but great technical platform) then I recommend at all times upload duplicates to Vimeo (and someone else). Then register your own URL shortener domain (such alex.je or whatever) and send links to your video through your own shortlinks, such as: alex.je/2013 Trusting your business to single platform provider - no matter how big - is disastrous. With planning like above you'd be back in business in no time by flipping redirect URLs to your videos at secondary provider.