Faux Newz dishonestly shuts down opposition and criticism

News1News YouTube channel logo

And in other news, it’s quite warm this time of the year in the Sahara.

Anyone who knows anything about Fair Use understands that, at its basics, it protects people’s right to post and showcase otherwise copyrighted content (music, video, text, graphics, etc.) as long as certain criteria are met. Most commonly, this is used as a defense for public commentary, such as with blogs and the likes. As long as the original source(s) and/or creator(s) of the content are properly attributed, the content itself is not modified (if it is, it must be specifically noted as such) and the commenter doesn’t use the content itself for commercial (ie. money-making) use, then you have the right to post anything you want and say whatever you want about it.

But, apparently, Faux Newz doesn’t seem to understand this. In fact, they’re quite possibly in direct violation of Fair Use doctrine with their newest bold move to try and squeeze those who expose their bullshit into silence. The YouTube channel News1News has been one of the most popular sources of blogging and commenting fodder with its never-ending stream of videos focusing on documenting the equally endless waves of dishonesty and outright lies spewing forth from Faux Newz. And yet, if you now try and access the channel, you’ll find it has been suspended. Why?

Well, because of the no less than 150 DMCA copyright infringement claims Faux Newz sent in to YouTube regarding the use of Faux Newz clips. This effectively went well over YouTube’s ridiculous and faulty “3-strikes-limit” policy on copyright claims, thus resulting in News1News being yanked and all its videos removed.

This is a complete and flagrant violation of Fair Use, and anyone who knows anything at all on the matter should be rightfully incensed, if not outraged. News1News followed every single criteria perfectly: all videos were accurately labeled and accredited to their original source (Faux Newz), they were unmodified (except for the addition of the News1News logo, which in itself does not constitute adequate modification of content to violate Fair Use); hell, the channel didn’t even post any commentary on its vids, relying on viewers to determine to which level of bullshittery the morons portrayed in the vids sank to. They followed the rules by-the-book; them getting attacked for Terms of Use violations based on copyright infringement claims is utterly ridiculous.

However, it really is unsurprising, however unfair, that Faux would stoop to such levels – what the hell else would you expect from a channel that basically acts as a bulletin board for all the most insane, delusional and dangerous lunatics on the air, those who claim Obama is a Nazi commie alien trying to take over America and place internment camps where they’ll rip out Sarah Palin’s baby from her womb whilst offing her grandparents? It’s a corollary that if you lie, you probably cheat as well.

But, that’s not even the best part. Not only are Faux Newz dishonest charlatans (and quite possibly in violation of the law with this new stunt), but they’re also massively hypocritical, especially with this development. You see, their focus in their attack on News1News was that the YT channel contained copyrighted materials … Yet, their real motives are obviously political in nature. They really should just come out and say it, that they went after News1News because they were a liberal channel.

After all, conservative, pro-Faux Newz YouTube channels such as GlennBeckDailyClips (which holds more than 630 clips of Glenn Beck’s show) and ConservativeNation (nearly 200 clips from all ranges of the Faux Newz programming spectrum) are still goin’ on strong, unhindered by such things as copyright infringement claims. They are exactly like News1News: third-party people who showcase copyrighted videos under Fair Use doctrine to make a point.

Except that News1News was liberal, thus making it par for the course for Faux Newz to try and cripple it. And cripple it, they did.

News1News is currently incarnated at a new (well, not new, but newly used) address at NewsPoliticsAmerica, though exactly how long they’re gonna stay up remains to be seen. (Shhht! You don’t wanna alert Faux Newz, do you?)

Just don’t hold your breath.

(via @todayspolitics)