You’re correct in that an automated process searches and finds a digital ‘fingerprint’ in copyrighted recordings – which is how the flag is produced. I do think the process of un-flagging a video should be escalated and have more tools than it does currently.

Your comment also reminds me of how much isn’t understood by the general public about copyright – which is why such automated restrictions are put in place. I’ve become increasingly aware of the difference it makes when someone pays me $1.99 for a download of a photo for Facebook vs. when someone skips that by doing a screen capture and posting that to their page.

One might argue – “it’s still exposure” but for me as the artist – 1) I’ve made a reasonable way to get rights to my work, 2) posting a screen capture often means a blurry, watermarked image of low-quality is what’s been seen as ‘my work’ – thus degrading my image in the process, and 3) I can’t pay ANY of my bills with “exposure” but I can with an actual payment for the use of my work. (There have been artists who used my images to promote themselves – watermark and all… at the end of the day, they aren’t the ones who turn around and want to share a cut of the money from a paid gig they got because they sent my photograph as their headshot).

So, if I give away my work – that’s my right, but if I put measures in place to restrict its use, I’d like that to be honored. Does the copyright filter get in the way sometimes? YES. Does the media industry with it’s HUGE profits and political influence abuse it’s position in how all this works? ABSOLUTELY. But at the end of the day, I think we have to raise the value of doing things in a way that’s fair and sustainable to the artists who create this stuff that we love so much. Licensed music is a big step in that direction.

P.S. – I was reading an article that said Facebook and other large social media sites outsource reviewing flagged content (photos, posts, etc…) to 3rd parties in developing countries. So for some content it is viewed by humans but that process is GORY and quite disturbing. It’s sad that someone has to review the crap that gets posted because someone didn’t have the decency NOT to post it.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! It resonates in my heart as well!

Frankly, if I were an artist, I’d be thrilled that people used my content to accompany their work, provided they included the proper credits. It’s great exposure, particularly if it’s used by some of the more popular Vloggers who get hundreds or  thousands of hits a day.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve watched someone’s Vlog and I was more interested in finding out the name of the song/artist than the actual Vlog. I’ve bought a few things on iTunes that I heard on someone’s video.

I realize that some people do steal music. I get that.  But I just think that sites like Youtube and Facebook can be too strict and need to relax some of their settings, or at least hire a human staff to do more of the page reviews rather than have the automated system do it. 

I’m not sure what happened with that check box… somewhere in the back of my mind I think I unchecked it during a wave of spam attacks… but I’ve re-enabled the option now.