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I have enormous sympathy for artists suffering financial anxiety during the pandemic. I have 3 books out in 2020 and my family was really counting on them selling well to pay our bills, so I really, really get it.
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The anxiety is real and justified, but music-industry calls to force US online services to filter everything we post with automated copyright filters are not. They are a terrible, awful idea.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/copyright-and-crisis-filters-are-not-answer
2/">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks...
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/copyright-and-crisis-filters-are-not-answer
2/">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks...
Anyone who& #39;s ever dealt with existing copyright filters - like @YouTube& #39;s #ContentID - knows that they are (and this is being charitable), a giant fucking flaming shit-show that everyone hates with the heat of a thousand suns.
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Not only do these filters fail to police copyright adequately (source: the exact same people calling for MOAR FILTERZ), they also flag and block entire libraries& #39; worth of legit material.
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It& #39;s hard to overstate just how bad the overblocking is. Youtube blocked a panel where copyright experts discussed how its blocking system worked. That video was only unblocked because one of the experts knew a top lawyer at Youtube and made a call.
https://www.eff.org/takedowns/automated-copyright-filter-cant-detect-infringement-or-irony
5/">https://www.eff.org/takedowns...
https://www.eff.org/takedowns/automated-copyright-filter-cant-detect-infringement-or-irony
5/">https://www.eff.org/takedowns...
Also blocked: classical musicans& #39; own performances of centuries-old Bach compositions. Birdsong. Silence. Static. Videos of adorable toddlers dancing in their parents& #39; kitchens.
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And - this should surprise no one - when you create a system that allows scumbags to fraudulently claim copyright to other peoples& #39; work, with no effective system to reverse those claims, scumbags do exactly that.
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Sometimes it& #39;s to steal artists& #39; money. Sometimes its to censor their work. Sometimes it& #39;s to blackmail artists (three "copystrikes" and Youtube nukes your account from orbit, with no recourse for you).
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Filters aren& #39;t just bad at stopping infringement, nor merely bad at permitting lawful material to pass, nor simply an invitation to fraud and censorship.
They& #39;re also really, really expensive.
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They& #39;re also really, really expensive.
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Content ID (the aforementioned flaming shit-show) cost $100 MILLION. SO FAR.
You know how many online companies have an extra hundred mil kicking around during the crisis? About five of & #39;em. The exact same Big Tech companies that are ripping the rest of us off.
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You know how many online companies have an extra hundred mil kicking around during the crisis? About five of & #39;em. The exact same Big Tech companies that are ripping the rest of us off.
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Big Tech is happy to cough up a mere $100m or so to annihilate every possible competitor. $100m isn& #39;t chump change, but it represents a STELLAR BARGAIN as a fee for a Perpetual Internet Domination License.
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And if you think Youtube and FB are hard get a decent deal out of in a world where they have to worry about smaller competitors getting bigger, just imagine what they& #39;ll be like once they& #39;ve carved up the internet forever.
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I want a diverse, pluralistic internet, not five giant websites filled with screenshots from the other four.
https://twitter.com/tveastman/status/1069674780826071040
Not">https://twitter.com/tveastman... just because that& #39;s a better internet, but because it& #39;s a better internet for artists.
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https://twitter.com/tveastman/status/1069674780826071040
Not">https://twitter.com/tveastman... just because that& #39;s a better internet, but because it& #39;s a better internet for artists.
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