Television ban. Would like to discuss/clarify.

Pigman II

Hi,

I'd just like to highlight a 7day ban I recieved from TV today. It was awarded to me for "Posting links to copyrighted material" (specifically youtube clips of the latest ep of Shooting Stars). I did so because some people on the thread had mentioned their regret at having missed it.

Where I take issue is that in the same thread the mod who banned me (Basquile) himself posted copyright material (a 2 minute clip from an episode Shooting Stars - presumably copyright also). I PM'd him wrt to this incongruity and the mod accepted that whilst the point had some validity the ban would stay.

Now I am occasionally known to get a slapped wrist on boards and I mention this because I am happy in general to do my time quietly where I see just cause. However I think in this instance I feel it has either been a harsh ban given the circumstances (ie a mod posting clips - which set an example/trend) and possibly even an incorrect ban (there is nothing specific in the TV charter about posting links to youtube clips where copyright may or may not be in issue).

However that is neither here nor there. Why I post here is because I feel if my ban is unfair then I think it should be lifted. If fair then that the mod in question should face the same punishment as me. The moderator in question has had time/opportunity to reply to my latest PM but declined to answer me so I am taking here.

Thanks for reading.

Pigman II

Here's the thread in question
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055450791

This post in question would have been post #16 on the thread.

My removed post consisted of 3x video links to youtube of the Anniversary ep of Shooting stars (all three links are still available on youtube as of this time - as are many other complete eps of SS).

sceptre

Here's my quick view:

People pop up little clips on the forums with increasing regularity. Often they're to throw out a bit of humour, sometimes they're relevant and sometimes not, just like posts people make.

While copyright law allows for the use of extracts, it's mainly for specific reasons like academic review and all that. To be honest, despite updates in the law over the past ten years, we're still behind the times. And as Ireland has very limited fair use provisions (mainly limited to academic reasons and mainly limited to print media), technically anything more than a publicly-licensed promo, explicitly licensed as such, is infringement.

However, let's look at reality - no-one's going to be prosecuted for putting up a quick scene from a TV show and no-one's going to be prosecuted for embedding a link to whatever Leona Lewis is singing these days. Equally we've a policy on Politics, which we implement with occasionally varying severity, that complete news articles can't be posted, that relevant extracts can be posted and that attribution (preferably a link) must be included. I think that's a good policy and I think it's fair both to the boards user and the copyright holder. Used in this way, both actually benefit.


So, to sum up what I think (for what it's worth). Posting short video links should be OK, even though it's technically infringement. Mods obviously get to make the call on whether it's relevant or whether users are taking the piss. Posting complete shows, movies, etc, is also infringement and this is something that should get a crackdown. While in the case of youtube, the providers are far more likely (far far more likely) to serve youtube with a takedown notice rather than here, boards.ie isn't in the business of pretending to be allyousee. The emphasis is on the discussion and the personal interaction, not the viewing; the viewing is almost always only relevant where it facilitates the discussion. Whether or not a small child can find the content on the Internet in under five minutes isn't relevant, it's not something we do or facilitate.