I would like to bemoan the fact that an entire wiki page dedicated to the great Dave Williamson seems to have vanished (unless I overlooked something). And also the fact that there are none of his performances on youtube.

All those who have seen him know what a *great* entertainer and magician he is (in my opinion he is the best of all worlds) and I would love the world to know about him.

Anyone inclined to (re)start his wiki page and maybe post a few of his great live performances on youtube would be in my debt.

Loz

Nope!
If they were removed, this was surely correct.
I have friends who still try to erase illegally posted films.
That seems to be not easy.
Williamson is great, no question, but he should be allowed to publish
his films, pictures and information by himself.
We call this "copyright".
Ever heard about this?
Your request is criminal.
Think about it.

Information is not copyrighted, and film footage, in the absence of agreements to the contrary, belongs to the person who shot it.

Loz,

The Williamson page is untouched and found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Williamson_(magician)

Best,

Tim

Hey Tim,

Thanks for this - don't know how I 'lost' it the other day.

As for the 'criminal' accusation, I am not talking about methods and I am sure the world would love to see him, that he would have no problem with it, and that, more to the point, he would appreciate it.

But as for thoughtsexplorer's issue, I would have thought posting performance videos would allow the world to see what a great entertainer he is. If this is infringing some legal issue (which maybe it is, maybe it isn't according to the posts above) I personally am fully in favour of it and see the law as an ass. Otherwise the only way the rest of the non-magic world can see how great he is would be to purchase magic videos - which seems crazy to me.

I would see it as 'criminal' for the rest of the world not to know him. But maybe he wants it that way...

Thanks for the posts.

There is a David Williamson video on Youtube. Search 'Worlds Greatest Magic' or 'Comedy Magician'

I don't think his name was used in the tag.

It is a video of his "Rocky" routine.

Funny stuff

Derek Merdinyan

Hi Loz,

The entire video debate on You Tube is going to be an interesting one. The network who owned the magic special that a performer is featured on owns it and not the performer who was hired to participate. If any of Davids videos were removed it couldn't be done by anyone other than the copyright owner or the person who posted it on You Tube.

There is so much " free" stuff currently but eventually it will go the way of napster and be regulated.

Wikipedia ... that's a different story. Images are copywrited but facts are not. Its called freedom of information. There is no reason the David Williamson page will be removed.

Best,

Tim

Content on YouTube is already regulated by the DMCA ... the procedure to have content removed is clearly stated:

http://youtube.com/t/dmca_policy


It is very unlikely that YouTube will go the way Napster did. Napster's only problem was they were not able to remove content from their service, which YouTube can easily do.

Not to mention the fact that networks are already in bed with YouTube, using it as a way to promote their TV programs:

http://youtube.com/profile?user=nbc
http://youtube.com/profile?user=cbs

And it works the other way around ... Fox News has a "download this" segement where they plug YouTube, and Jay Leno has provided YouTube with millions of free ad spots.

-JoeJoe

Joe Joe,

When I said they will go the way of Napster I basically meant that they will get regulated with a bit more legal force. They may make their policy clear online but just try to have a video removed and see how easy it is.

I'd be interested in testing something to see where they really stand. Send me one of your videos and I'll post it and see if you ( the copyright owner ) can really get it removed.

Yes.. the networks are in bed with them but only to the point it benefits them. The creators of Family Guy succeeded in getting all Family Guy content removed last year and yet it is all over You Tube once again. Did they give up or are they letting this happen for promotion??

Best,

Tim

They need to report each individual instance by each user ... if another user uploads it, it is on the Family Guy to report it also. The DCMA does not give the Family Guy blanket protection. It is not YouTube's resonsibility to protect the Family Guy's rights, it is up to the Family Guy to protect their own rights. All YouTube has to do is remove it when asked which is what they do.

Napster did everything wrong ... like internal memos of employees discussing the music they were pirating themselves. YouTube is a whole nother ball game, with a well defined and established legal purpose - for example, YouTube users were given the honor of Time's "person of the year" award. It would be very difficult for the Family Guy or anyone else to convince a court YouTube existed solely for an illegal purpose like they did with Napster. I just don't see it happening.

-JoeJoe

Joe Joe,

You make some excellent points but are you saying that the owners of Family guy should have to be responsible for removing each and every possible illegal posting put up by countless millions of possible people? Do you think You Tube would give ISP info for possible lawsuits? Do you think its ok for You Tube to allow a venue for anonymous posting of copyrighted material without being partially responsible? Would You Tube block an isp of someone who posted copyrighted material over and over?

These are questions that I think will eventually be dealt with in a legal sense. It may take a few high profile test cases but I think its only a matter of time.

If you ever want to participate in my offer to test You Tubes willingness to protect your copyright I'm game for it. Please don't consider that a challenge as its not intended to be. It'd be an interesting experiment however and one that may very well surprise either of us.

Best,

Tim

Folks,

MOST material posted on YouTube is snippets in low-res and that serves to advertise for the high quality product offered by the copyright holder.

And as noted earlier, the copyright holder has the discretion to defend their right IF THEY FEEL the quote of their work is being used inappropriately.

:)

That is how copyright laws work ... the US government does not enforce copyright laws, copyright violation is not a criminal offense. It is up to the copyright holder to enforce his copyright through the civil courts by sueing for damages. The burden rests on the shoulders of the copyright holder.

Through the DCMA, the copyright holders have options to sue the uploader - the record industry has done so numerous times, and there is nothing stopping copyright holders from sueing YouTube users ... other than public backlash anyway (remember the 13 year old girl from New York?).





If they were required to by the courts ... the DCMA has provisions for this, something that some ISPs have been challenging in court.





YouTube is no more or less annymous that the Magic Café or any other website. By law, they are not responsible for content their users upload. If someone were to post the instructions for a copyrighted magic trick on the Magic Café, how liable should Steve Brooks be?





YouTube has deleted user accounts for posting copyrighted material, the page I referenced above mentions that is a part of their policy.





There is no need:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBDab4_PeNo
http://youtube.com/?v=_WEAnSTJ7gQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GClrwzgGxAM
http://youtube.com/?v=pQ1o4RaGt-k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WbQD8-Mn5s
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ncvzk7VBr7g
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mAYW1Fn5ohE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efTEUKAXlws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVmkMdtB-sk
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gZmuTSPcWLY

Just a few examples of the thousands of removed videos.

-JoeJoe

YouTube hands over pirates' details to Fox:

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/9553/53/




-JoeJoe

Hi JoeJoe,

Thanks for that link.

Best,

Tim