Sintel is an animated short film produced by the Blender Foundation and released under a Creative Commons license. Blender is Free Software created specifically for artists so they can make videos unencumbered by fees and restrictions.
Sony is a corporation that used to be relevant.
Youtube is a place on the Internet where creators can make their videos available for viewing.
The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is an American law meant to protect creators’ copyright.
On April 5, 2014, Sony used the DMCA to get Youtube to take down a video of Sintel. (Links to Torrent Freak, Reddit and Cartoon Brew) Sony had no right to do it. Youtube was wrong to comply. But they won’t pay for their hubris. Sintel, the Blender Foundation, the artists and the audience will be expected to accept the injury and insult, while the scoundrels slip away.
The DMCA mechanism is automated. It has to be, they say, because there are so many videos and so many requests. So, because they are too cheap and too lazy to be careful, there are countless cases of false takedown notices. And while the takedowns are quick and easy, correcting a false takedown it difficult and time-consuming.
This continues to happen because people are never made to pay for abusing the system. So this won’t be the last DMCA crime.
rjb
Edit: Due to a large outcry, Sintel is once again viewable on Youtube. A good outcome.
rjb
