

VEVO CEO tries to explain their hypocritical act of piracy at Sundance - msencenb
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/10/vevo-ceo-tries-to-explain-their-hypocritical-act-of-piracy-at-sundance/

======
waterlesscloud
So VEVO's position is that this is a valid defense?

"I didn't secure my computer and others had access to it."

Interesting.

~~~
savramescu
"I didn't secure my Wi-Fi and other had access to it." - sounds pretty
familiar to me.

~~~
Joakal
"Somebody used our ip addresses." - RIAA's argument when their computers were
linked to piracy.

------
wmeredith
What a load of crap. Their excuse rings completely hollow to me.

I mean, it's pretty weak in and of itself. Then I consider the company VEVO
keeps. That is, hugely powerful record labels that have bribed, coerced, and
abused the American legal/political system to keep themselves between
musicians and patrons for so many years. I don't know that a better excuse
would have even helped. These companies, and their ilk, have lost all
credibility with me as a consumer and American Citizen.

I view them as scumbags of the highest order. I am not alone and we're just
waiting for them to screw up so we can take joy in the next step of their
long, slow demise.

And screw up they did. Big time. The NFL may be the only people more
psychopathic than Hollywood about their copyright. They actually say during
their broadcast that you can't talk about the game without their permission,
when you hear it sounds like something out The Onion or Brazil. I'd love to
see VEVO get slapped with a fat lawsuit from the NFL. The enemy of my enemy is
my friend and all that...

~~~
fluidcruft
If you follow to yesterday's article about this you'll see at the bottom:

Update, 2/10:: ESPN says it will not be pursuing legal action. A spokesperson
gave us the following statement:

“We’re disappointed the exhibitor took this route, especially at a festival
for an industry whose jobs are most at risk if we are not able to curtail
stolen content.”

[http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/09/music-labels-joint-
venture-...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/09/music-labels-joint-venture-vevo-
shows-pirated-espn-game-at-sundance/)

~~~
PerryCox
ESPN is not the NFL. They may be off the hook with ESPN but I expect the NFL
might be a little more upset.

------
laconian
They're demonstrating that it's practically impossible for an average person
to NOT run afoul of copyright law during natural everyday activities.

~~~
jkeel
I think this is the even bigger story. If they did it on purpose, then it's
hypocrisy. If it was by accident then it proves how hard is it to be compliant
with the law 24/7.

Personally, I think a law with high consequences shouldn't be something you
can accidentally break. I can understand something like accidentally going
over the speed limit (within reason) in a car and getting a citation, but
copyright laws allow for big fines and jail time.

~~~
laconian
The legal system suffers from sclerosis from all these laws being piled on top
of each other. Lawmakers aren't interested in refactoring. :P

~~~
Natsu
> Lawmakers aren't interested in refactoring.

They also seem to fear 'git blame' given some of the excuses I've heard about
what "staffers" have done....

------
darksaga
I hear a lot of people yelling about this, but is there anybody else who
thinks this is totally awesome?

To me, this is just more ammunition these companies are giving to the people
they're trying to prosecute.

And in this case, you actually have video supporting the notion this was not
an "oops" situation.

~~~
Steko
If the NFL does not file suit here I'm assuming they're ok with streaming as
long as you see all their advertisements on the stream as well.

~~~
loceng
I imagine so as well, as to main copyright you need to show you're enforcing
it.

~~~
dangrossman
You're thinking of trademark. There is no requirement to enforce copyright and
no loss for not doing so.

------
bediger
The real problem here is that Vevo (and the RIAA, when caught with an IP
address that did BitTorrent) _won't_ be persecuted under laws like SOPA/PIPA
and whatever comes from ACTA and TPP. Since SOPA gives the DoJ and
"rightsholders" discretion about who to shutdown, the situation will be more
like the Great Firewall of China: "One eye open, one eye shut".

Some websites will mysteriously be allowed to stream video, others will get
slapped down, hard. It will all depend on who you know, and what the transient
policy of the moment is. I'm sure that MPAA and RIAA know that they will be
allowed to act with discretion, I'm just not sure they know others will, as
well, and what the fallout from that will be.

------
dethstarr
This is an absolute joke. We need to heed YCombinator and "kill" Hollywood.
Make Silicon Valley and S.F. the new entertainment and creative centers of
America.

Let's merge technology with entertainment.

~~~
aleksandrm
No thanks, Hollywood needs to stay where it is, in Hollywood.

