Hugo Awards Live Stream Cut By Copyright Enforcement Bot 393
New submitter Penmanpro writes news of the Hugo Awards stream being unintentionally cut off by some AI gone awry: "Quotes from the linked article 'UStream's incorrectly programmed copyright enforcement squad had destroyed our only access.' 'Just as Neil Gaiman was giving an acceptance speech for his Doctor Who script, "The Doctor's Wife." Where Gaiman's face had been were the words, "Worldcon banned due to copyright infringement."'"
Re:Fitting. (Score:5, Interesting)
It was a convention and it was for fans... so I don't agree with you on this.
DRM is all about fucking over the fans.
The sooner they learn that, the better.
You can't buy targetted "advertising" as good as this.
Re:usteam isn't responding. (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem with these bots is how the people setting the policy weigh the risks.. they fear the content owners suing them more then their customers. But if you are failing to provide a service that you have been contracted to provide, then that opens up a new area of liability that I do not think customers have been pushing enough.
Pretty funny (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe this demonstrates how the copyright mafia is actually destroying culture. Well, I guess UStream is out for anything now and should die.
Google banned my video because of the music (Score:5, Interesting)
It was our national anthem, and it was copyright free, I made sure I got the track from a royalty free collection.
Nevertheless, the AI thought it sounded like someone else's recording of the national anthem, so I was tried and convicted. Oh sure, there was an appeal's process, but it is up to me to wait in line to be absolved of the sin I never committed. Guilty until proven innocent.
And we are talking about our national anthem. You know, freedom and all that. Irony.
All hail the great God filthy lucre.
Eventually, the people are going to be fed up, and not put up with this crap any more.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:+5, wait what? (Score:5, Interesting)
For synical people like myself this is funny, painfully funny. (I do not mod)
It's cynical, and that is why you fail. I've been talking with EEs and RF engineers for several months about how to create a cognitive/software radio. It's already been done, it's not theoretical -- the military already has this technology in use today with specifications similar to what the project requires. But all that research is locked behind the guise of national security, so it must be developed independently. And it's not easy finding DACs and FPGAs with the bandwidth and clocking speeds necessary to drive the radio without a lot of discrete components; And when I say a lot, I mean more than what's on your motherboard.
However, every person I've talked to says it is certainly possible; Just not easy, especially if the design makes every attempt to limit harmful interference, since unlike the military, this device needs to play nice with existing equipment. Your cynicism is, frankly, pathetic. Don't think that a few people who care can't change the world -- indeed, they're the only ones who ever have.
Re:+5, wait what? (Score:3, Interesting)
The best humor is frequently in stating the truth in an unexpected way. I remember when true comedians were philosophers first, and the delivery was the funny part. So often, the audience things it's so ridiculous... but wait, it's eerily close to reality.
George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison, the whole list of people who said the truth and got laughs.
Take out the laugh track and listen to this, "Bill Hicks on Marketing." If you know it already, listen again and separate out the audience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo [youtube.com]
Yes, that was a funny post, or at least as close as the moderation system allows.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It's Labour Day (Score:4, Interesting)
If you buy the UStream pro video package you get to show whatever you like (no bot oversight) and there's 24/7 live support. You also get to choose not to show your viewers any UStream adverts (obviously you could inject your own ads) and handle a vast number of simultaneous viewers. It does cost money, but if something goes wrong there's a live human to call who can help fix it.
Worldcon was NOT using the pro video package. I haven't even been able to find out if they were paying for one of the cheaper entry-level options with less features and no support. It's quite possible they simply created a free Ustream account and hoped for the best like somebody uploading a little league game.
Now, that doesn't make it _good_ that this happened, but it sure does make it _understandable_. Imagine if, rather than paying for a venue, a famous band just decides to play for free in a local park. Well, good news is that the show is free. Bad news, if it rains there's no shelter organised, if people arrive to mow the grass in the park then show's over, and if the police decide its' too noisy the amps will get turned off with no notice. But that's not because the police hate music, it's because the band were too cheap (or too lazy) to hire a real venue.
I suggest that future Worldcon hosts either find a way to pay for a more professional level of video service, or make it clear to the fans that this is basically a best effort feed and might go down for any reason at any time with no way to bring it back.
Re:Fitting. (Score:5, Interesting)
The point should be that the Hugo Awards hold the copyright to their awards ceremony, which includes distribution rights; by the erroneous blocking of the stream, Hugo's right to distribute was grievously infringed. That infringement like any other infringement should by remedied by the assessment of considerable monetary penalties.
Re:+5, wait what? (Score:3, Interesting)
Some groups of a few people who care have changed the world. A far larger number of groups of a few people who cared have found the world unyielding to their efforts.
If you only ever do things that statistics favor, you're going to lead a most boring and undistinguished life. Life has always existed despite the odds, vibrant life doubly so. I choose to believe I am of consequence to the universe... and since you believe you are not of consequence to the universe, you are... of no consequence at all.
In an agape kind of spirit, I really wish you well, especially after reading what you wrote. In other words: fuck yeah. You're in that zone today where the important things are self-evident AND you can articulate them. What a wonderful state to represent!
... if we realize we're all one?! It'd fuck up the economy!"
Except I wouldn't say he's of no consequence at all. I would say he's not yet aware of his own significance, of just how much we're in all of this together. *
While I definitely believe it is going to work out, because that is inherently in the nature of the beauty that is unfolding from the Universe, the widespread ignorance is certainly distasteful. I don't know a single excellent soul who didn't have to endure extensive contact with it.
It really seems to make things harder than they would otherwise have to be. A few change the world from time to time because it never seems to be the majority who understand this. If that ever happened, I do believe it would be something like heaven on earth.
* Ever head much from Bill Hicks? "How are we gonna keep building nuclear weapons
Libel (Score:4, Interesting)
If UStream actually used the words "Worldcon banned due to copyright infringement", Worldcon can sue for libel. They were falsely and publicly accused of a criminal act.
Re:Google banned my video because of the music (Score:4, Interesting)
As many others, I. Can confirm this. I posted a number of videos to YouTube recently, all with the same background music licensed under a CC license. All were automatically (within seconds of posting) tagged, I disputed the claims immediately, I am still waiting for the issue to be resolved including any comment.
What angers me most is that I have apparently no way of finding out WHO the claimant is. They are accusing me of copyright infringement, i.e. a crime. Where I live, that is a serious accusation.
Anyone had any luck with this whole scam in the past? I want to know who is making the claim so I can contact the music author and support him in suing them. Because THIS is what "stealing music" looks like - making a copyright claim to someone else's work.