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.
eff.org/deeplinks/2020…
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eff.org/deeplinks/2020…
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Anyone who's ever dealt with existing copyright filters - like @YouTube'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' worth of legit material.
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It'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.
eff.org/takedowns/auto…
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eff.org/takedowns/auto…
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Also blocked: classical musicans' own performances of centuries-old Bach compositions. Birdsong. Silence. Static. Videos of adorable toddlers dancing in their parents' 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' work, with no effective system to reverse those claims, scumbags do exactly that.
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Sometimes it's to steal artists' money. Sometimes its to censor their work. Sometimes it's to blackmail artists (three "copystrikes" and Youtube nukes your account from orbit, with no recourse for you).
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Filters aren't just bad at stopping infringement, nor merely bad at permitting lawful material to pass, nor simply an invitation to fraud and censorship.
They're also really, really expensive.
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They'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 '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 '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'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'll be like once they'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.
Not just because that's a better internet, but because it's a better internet for artists.
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Not just because that's a better internet, but because it's a better internet for artists.
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The internet is already terrible enough, and it's all we've got to see us through this crisis.
Subjecting every word, image, video and sound we upload to automated black-box filters operated by high-handed faceless corps that can't be bothered to answer their email?
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Subjecting every word, image, video and sound we upload to automated black-box filters operated by high-handed faceless corps that can't be bothered to answer their email?
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That'll make it a billion times worse.
For everyone.
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For everyone.
eof/
