EM:/ Fwd: [*********] Anyone able to help re a DMCA takedown by a climate skeptic?

EFF's definitely a good place to go.

Another response might be contacting Cory Doctorow at boingboing.net.   
They've carried climate-change-related stories in the past, champion  
user-created stuff (like Peter Sinclair's videos), and they  
(especially Doctorow) are NO friends of the DMCA.  Getting this story  
on BoingBoing would bring considerable attention.  That might help the  
immediate problem.  Longer term, BoingBoing's not a "climate"  
website.  A carefully-written story there might reach a wider audience  
and engender awareness of both Peter Sinclair's work and Anthony  
Watts's tactics.  (Note: "carefully-written" means neutral, fact- 
based, and fair-minded.  Anything slanted will be met with contempt  
and derision, and gleefully shredded by the forum-goers.)


On Jul 28, 2009, at 5:16 PM, jaimeson winstead wrote:

> try the:  Electronic Fountier foundation.....  http://www.eff.org
>
> From: Eric Baerren <ebaerren at gmail.com>
> To: Enviro-Mich Listserve <enviro-mich at great-lakes.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 4:56:38 PM
> Subject: EM:/ Fwd: [*********] Anyone able to help re a DMCA  
> takedown by a climate skeptic?
>
> I've seen Peter Sinclair's climate crock videos mentioned here a few  
> times.  Thought this might be of interest.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Adam Siegel <siegead at gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 4:32 PM
> Subject: [*********] Anyone able to help re a DMCA takedown by a  
> climate skeptic?
>
>
> I have a feeling that someone on this list can help on this.
>
> A fellow Climate Project trainee, Peter Sinclair, started doing  
> "Climate Crock of the Week" videos to dissect global warming  
> denier / skeptic arguments, and show them to be the frauds that they  
> are. (for a set, see: http://greenfyre.wordpress.com/denier-vs-skeptic/denier-myths-debunked/climate-denial-crock-of-the-week/#polar) 
>   He has been posting them at YouTube (and diarying at various  
> places, such as Daily Kos:  http://www.dailykos.com/user/greenman3610)
>
> The latest video laid out a quite compelling case shredding Anthony  
> Watts' (a major denier figure on the web -- big time following and  
> often cited by Drudge/et al) claims that the surface stations  
> gathering data are bad and that, therefore, the weater data going  
> into climate models can't be trusted.
>
> Watts sent in a DMCA and YouTube pulled the video.  Reversing that  
> would help bring visibility to someone who does a good job producing  
> videos shredding denier truthiness-laden talking points.
>
> NOT FOR POSTING: <redacted address and phone number>
>
> Thanks, in advance, to anyone who can help Peter on this.
>
> Adam
>
> PS: Here is my short write-up on this:
>
> http://getenergysmartnow.com/2009/07/28/watts-up-with-suppressing-honest-skepticism/
> Watt’s Up With Suppressing Honest Skepticism
>
> July 28th, 2009 · No Comments
>
> Notable (notorious) climate skeptic Anthony Watts has made much of  
> looking at scientists work and seemingly showing where there  
> problems with that work. Evidently, however, he has some concerns  
> when he faces such a look; perhaps because that look provided a  
> clear and accessible demonstration of the shallowness of Watts’  
> claims. A recent video by Peter Sinclair’s excellent “Climate Denial  
> Crock of the Week” series (see, for example, this GESN post)  
> highlighted how Watts’ work is fundamentally flawed.
>
> Watts complained to YouTube, evidently asserting copyright  
> infringement, and, voila, the video “Watts Up With Watts?” is no  
> longer available.
>
>
> As Kevin Grandia put it,
>
> So what do you do when someone posts a YouTube video saying you’re a  
> crock? One way is to complain and get it wiped clean off the ‘inter- 
> tubes.’ …
>
> The video was removed after Watts complained under YouTube’s  
> Copyright Infringement guidelines. This has become known as a DMCA  
> Takedown - with the DMCA being the US copyright law used to  
> criminalize anyone infringing and/or circumventing copyrighted works.
>
> Before I posted Sinclair’s youtube video, as I normally do with any  
> YouTube video I post, I vetted it from a DMCA point of view and,  
> quite frankly I don’t know what part of the video Watts would have a  
> problem with. There’s nothing I saw in the video that appears to  
> break any copyright as it relates to Watts.
>
> Now maybe he took issue with the short (credited) clip at the  
> beginning from Will Ferrell’s Anchorman movie…. but I think this is  
> more about a video that thoroughly shreds Watts and his argument  
> that the world is wrong about climate change and he is right.
>
> So what is it Watts? Instead of hiding behind an automated service  
> that deletes any video on YouTube that someone claims infringes  
> DMCA, why don’t you email me (desmogblog [at] gmail [dot] com) and  
> explain why you think Sinclair’s video should not be viewed by the  
> public.
>
> Perhaps, Kevin, it is simply because Watts is uncomfortable when  
> people are too skeptical about skeptics.
>
>
> Below is the totality of the (form) message from YouTube. Now, we  
> must admit that YouTube needs to deal with actual copyright  
> infringement all the time. (All those people seeking to share their  
> favorite cable show, for example …) And, thus this is a high burden  
> activity that probably, in most cases, is clear-cut infringement. In  
> this case, Watts is able to suppress what is arguably (actually,  
> almost certainly) academic criticism (and / or sarcasm) falling  
> within the fair use doctrine. YouTube is, in essence, engaging in  
> preemptive censorship, placing the burden of proof on the creator  
> rather than expecting anything other than an assertion of  
> inappropriate usage as enough to shut down a video. In addition,  
> despite requests, YouTube is not sharing the content of Anthony  
> Watts’ complaint nor has Watts provided (to date) an explanation of  
> how the video violated his property rights.
>
> Dear Member:
>
> This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the  
> following material as a result of a third-party notification by  
> Anthony Watts Surfacestations.org claiming that this material is  
> infringing:
>
> Watts Up With Watts?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcxVwEfq4bM
>
> Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result  
> in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that  
> account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any  
> videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from  
> uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of  
> others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy,  
> please read the Copyright Tips guide.
>
> If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help  
> Center to access the instructions.
>
> Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any  
> person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or  
> activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may  
> be subject to liability.
>
> Sincerely,
> YouTube, Inc.
>
>
> -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
>
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>
>
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> www.michiganliberal.com
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