Google has decided to punish sites it deems to be violating copyright by signals it receives from writes holders. This has the web talking like crazy today, but let’s talks about those signals Google receives.
The day after Curiosity landed, I ran 90 seconds of video in my show that showed the NASA video feed with the NASA / JPL control room going crazy after the landing. This was one of many segments I discussed in my 80 minute news program, which is largely protected by Fair use.
Yet….. No less than 24 hours after that video went on YouTube, I received no less than 5 notices of copyright infringement by multiple news agencies that all claimed that video segment belonged to them.
Yes they were claiming copyright on video provided by NASA / JPL, my brain exploded as now I had to go into YouTube and do a counterclaim for each and every one of these ridiculous claims
Not one of these copyright notices came from the US Government, NASA / JPL. They all were generated automatically and outright bogus. This issue has become so bad, that it has hampered my ability to report the news for fear of getting hammered by Google when I cover a story and run any kind of video as part of the story.
Fans of my show know I now have to hold back on showing something as part of my news commentary, because the automated copyright infringement machine Google has cannot distinguish between a news series and someone that is a true copyright violator.
Sadly there is no longer “fair use” at Google, their system has no way of telling who really owns the material. I am not alone in being frustrated with the over handiness.
No telling how these new signals will be used and if it will affect new sites and shows like mine. Giving attribution and linking to stories we cover is now not enough. When it comes to using a segment of video in original content which should be covered by fair use, Google is now going to designate itself a Copyright Cop!