19 August 2008

So much for Internet freedom

by Yeoh Siew Hoon

A funny thing happened to me after I returned from the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

I had been busy taking videos of the performances with my newly-acquired VADO, a new video camera from SingaporeÃ¢â¬â¢s Creative Technologies, that is as nifty to look at (mine is hot pink) as it is to use.

With so much going on in the BirdÃ¢â¬â¢s Nest that night, it was hard to juggle between my gadgets Ã¢â¬' still photos just could not do justice to the spectacle of the night and so I was busier with my VADO than I was with my camera and mobile phone.

Excited by all the footage I had captured, I immediately imported the videos into my laptop and uploaded the finale footage of gymnast Li Ning doing that flying stunt round the rim of the BirdÃ¢â¬â¢s Nest roof onto my Youtube account.

It took several minutes as it always does, but it worked.

Within an hour or so, I received an email from YouTube, saying "A YouTube partner made a copyright claim on one of your videos", and advised me that "your video is no longer available because NBC Universal (Sports) has chosen to block it".

The notification read, "NBC Universal (Sports) claimed this content as a part of the YouTube Content Identification program. YouTube allows partners to review YouTube videos for content to which they own the rights. Partners may use our automated video/audio matching system to identify their content, or they may manually review videos."

It then warned, "Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the suspension of your account and all videos uploaded to that account."

This worries me somewhat. Call me naive or what but as someone who regularly posts blogs and videos on social networking sites to share with my friends, I have taken for granted the freedom to post what I like, especially what I have shot myself, provided it is not malicious or has ill intent against persons or individuals.

I had posted the video in good faith. To then be notified that a video I took myself of an event I saw myself has infringed on the copyright of a commercial company, which is obviously monitoring user content by a site or "community" to which I belong, is slightly off-putting.

It smacks of Big Brother, the very thing we think the Internet is not, and it makes me wonder how much of what I share out there exposes me to potential danger I am as yet unaware of.

User generated content and rich media are being hailed as the new wave of the Internet. On Facebook, we share our private lives with everyone.

We tell people what we are doing at any time and if we forget to do so, "they" ask us, "What are you doing right now?" like they really care.We post photos of ourselves in poses and positions we would otherwise not share in public and our friends are free to comment on them.

We post videos of our travels Ã¢â¬' things which, in the past, we could only inflict on family and close friends we now unleash onto the whole world.We do all this because the Internet and the new wave of social sites encourage us to do so.

And now we find it may not be as free or fun as we think it is.

Alas, the virtual world to which we thought we could escape is more and more mirroring the real world.

Catch up with Yeoh Siew Hoon at The Transit CafÃƒ~©

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Your Comments (3)

It's not Singapore, it's big giant American media!

Yet another person who has never lived in Singapore slamming the state in the self-righteous name of freedom. I've lived in Singapore for more than 11 years and have yet to see a foreign newspaper with stories clipped out nor have I ever felt (apart from the fact that I can't buy a copy of Hustler at a newsstand) that my freedom of media consumption was ever curtailed. Read the post. Youtube cited NBC Universal as the culprit. If it's true that NBC is indeed to blame (and Youtube for cowtowing to them), then it looks to me like another sign of an "old media" giant uncertain of what to do in the new media environment. It seems consistent with the actions of similar giants (e.g. Viacom) whose strategy is in suing the new media companies in the vain hope that eventually the audience will revert to watching television in primetime and consume 30-sec spots like decent people and forget all this "Web 2.0" nonsense. The internet and user generated content is here to stay. Deal with it. And if you can't build a business that learns to embrace it then you deserve to share your fate with the record industry.

By Miguel Bernas, Monday, August 25, 2008
Not surprising

I'm not surprised that Yeoj Siew Hoon's video ran into difficulty. First off, I don't understand why so many people are happy to supply wealthy content providers with free content that earns them, but not the supplier, an income. Secondly, the Olympics are one of the most tightly monitored business events in the world. But they are no unique in licensing copyright. I know of a number of events where certain aspects of media coverage have been sold or exclusively licensed. Basically, the agreements allow for particular companies to control all video or all images of an event. Your ticket could list limitations on recording, taping or photographing the event. Or it may only prohibit commercial distribution. YouTube and other social networking sites and cyber communities are businesses for someone, so posting your home movies here makes them a commercial application. means if you want to post

By Allan Lynch, Thursday, August 21, 2008
A Singaporean Expects InterNet Freedom?

I believe Yeoh Siew Hoon is a Singaporean resident - a country where all home InterNet connections are routed through a government censoring fire wall. Singapore is also the country where imported papers are censored with scissors; where the government checked all privately owned computer hard drives through InterNet connections; where political films are banned and where Lee Kuan Yew used demolishion, literally, in areas which voted for the opposition thereby moving the ungrateful residents. Real 'block busting'. Singapore and China are not alone in exercising censorship, the UK and US (and state) governments, along with many other countries, use (direct) InterNet providers to deny access to certain URLs. The State of New York has recently been strong-arming many national U.S. ISPs, including ATT, in order to deny access to some sites. Likely YouTube (Google) is a little sensitive to content ownership following recent legal activity. Yeoh Siew Hoon should do an intro on YouTube and give out a link to her own web site and display the footage there with a disclaimer stating she filmed the content and claims copyright. Experienced InterNet users use anonymous web sites that strip out both sides of an InterNet session and the best way to avoid even the Chinese InterNet Fire Wall.

By Jon Hewson, Tuesday, August 19, 2008