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Google blogjam

Posted by Gavin Brockis on Friday 12 February 2010 at 12:12pm
Tags: copyright |

Comment icon Comments (3)

Google takes action to address copyright infringement on Blogger.

In a draconian move, Google has recently removed several music blogs from its Blogger and Blogspot services. Citing complaints about the legality of music posted by bloggers as the reason behind their actions, some well known and sometimes longstanding music blogs have been summarily deleted. The owners of the blogs concerned had apparently already been politely but firmly informed that they were in violation of Google's terms of use, and receiving no adequate explanation, Google has pulled the plug.

The bloggers themselves are widely outraged, claiming that much of the audio they post is sanctioned or even supplied by the record companies concerned. However, mostly legal is not completely legal. Complaints of uncleared use of audio in these blogs, in violation of the USA's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998, have highlighted some grey areas and assumptions in the use of copyrighted audio, which some bloggers have allegedly failed to address or clarify when asked to do so.

Some of this material may of course have been used perfectly legally, but the failure to follow Google's procedure has led to shutdown.

Currently this all centres around American copyright law, but it also starkly demonstrates the importance of gaining permission to use copyrighted material, lest you spoil your ship for a ha'pworth of tar. As always, if you're not sure, don't use it!

If you want some guidance on audiovisual copyright for your own resources you may want to take a look at our advice documents Copyright: an Overview and Audiovisual Copyright Frequently Asked Questions.

Comments (3)

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Comment posted by Brian Kelly on 12 February 2010 at 7:13pm

Thanks for the post.  However when you say “it also starkly demonstrates the importance of gaining permission to use copyrighted material, lest you spoil your ship for a ha’pworth of tar. As always, if you’re not sure, don’t use it!” I’m not convinced that this is always the bet approach. 

In a recent paper on “Empowering Users and Institutions: A Risks and Opportunities Framework for Exploiting the Social Web” Professor Charles Oppenheim and myself felt there was a need for a risk management approach to copyright and related issues.  The paper is available at:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/papers/cultural-heritage-online-2009/

What are your views on such an approach?

Thanks

Brian Kelly, UKOLN

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Comment posted by Gavin Brockis on 15 February 2010 at 1:01pm

that’s a very relevant and thought-provoking paper brian - many thanks.

it does raise some pertinent ethical questions for me from the opposite perspectives of both producer and consumer. risk management is certainly one possible pragmatic approach, which particularly can serve the content re-user well when navigating the grey areas between legal and illegal re-use of copyright materials. however, in terms of advising our users on copyright procedures we have to be rather more ‘black and white’, if only to manage our own risks ;)

i certainly would agree with the widening and formalisation of ‘fair use’ and creative commons terms for educators, and i think that many producers and artists would agree with non-commercial use of their material being legally sanctioned, but this is not yet the case, and current legal compliance must be our official line.

you say in your paper, when discussing “notification of allegedly illegal content” that “Processes should be put in place to act expeditiously on such a notification”, which seems a wise contingency plan. being caught red-handed is one thing; doing nothing about it is quite another! this was clearly the mistake of the bloggers in question.

gavin

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Comment posted by Brian Kelly on 15 February 2010 at 2:08pm

Many thanks for the response.

Having looked at some of the slides used at last year’s JISC conference it seems that I’m not the only person willing to adopt a risk management approach to use of possibly copyrighted resources in slides.  And as well as the copyright issue there are also the issues of publishing images of individuals - something which does take place at JISC events. 

Whilst I appreciate the reasons why an advisory service might give such advice, I also feel that in order for the advice to be seen to be relevant in the real world, there will be a need to acknowledge that trusted and respected organisations (whether JISC or HEIs) will sometimes adopt a pragmatic approach.

Thanks

Brian

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