

Chatroulette Improv Piano Player Removed from YouTube - aresant
http://mashable.com/2010/03/22/merton-removed-youtube/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

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chaosmachine
_"This is a new, edited version of the original Video #1. I had to make some
changes in order for YouTube to be happy with it.

My apologies to all of the subscribers for being summoned here just to see a
repeat post, but there was no way around it.

For the record, the original video had 4,238,658 Views. At the time of its
demise, it was the Top-Rated YouTube Video of All Time. No shit."_

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NZ_Matt
It appears that two people featured in the video requested that their faces
were removed. He has now uploaded an edited version.
<http://www.youtube.com/user/PianoChatImprov>

~~~
eogas
I wonder if they were even verified. Like, could I go on there now and just
say I'm the first dude, and ask them to take it down? Or would Google request
that I send in a picture to prove it?

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pan69
"most of the people in the video didn’t know that they were becoming part of a
viral video."

If we only knew the formula for viral videos, ad agencies would be all over
that. Unfortunately/Luckily, there is no such formula..

~~~
madssj
They do know, I have a friend who works at a seeding agency, and they know
very, very well how it works.

Make it funny/stupid/sexy enough, and people will watch it.

A couple of good examples of this:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xfBNxNds0Q>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USYa5iH3f3s>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJmqCKtJnxM>

Don't know if the latter was launched as a viral campaign, but my point is
that you know it and the brand it was from if I'd phone you up and shout
"WASSUP".

Marketing is a lot scarier that you think.

~~~
randallsquared
_you know it and the brand it was from if I'd phone you up and shout
"WASSUP"._

I doubt that most people would. They know the meme; they remember the
commercials, but what brand? I mean, without looking, I believe it was beer,
but I'm not totally certain even of that.

~~~
detst
I recalled immediately that it was Budweiser and I haven't seen it in years. I
wasn't even old enough to legally drink when they originally aired.

My memory (usually block it out to begin with) in recalling brands from
commercials is terrible so I'm inclined to believe most people would remember.
But we are both just guessing.

~~~
LeChuck
I knew that it was Budweiser even though the commercial never aired where I
live. Heck, I'm not even sure you can buy Budweiser here.

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eogas
How is this gonna work then? Will he have to take down every video that
someone complains about, losing all the views and everything? That sucks.
Maybe he should start uploading to a new site.

I wonder if Ben Folds will get similar complaints, forcing him to upload an
edited video as well. Perhaps by that dude on the toilet (Hey BAM! ...on the
can.)

~~~
aw3c2
Maybe he should start asking people for their permission.

~~~
Timothee
The thing is that by the nature of ChatRoulette that's hardly possible.

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axod
ironic that people on chatroulette care about privacy.

~~~
nandemo
People go to chatroulette to talk to another random person, not to be
broadcast to the whole world. It's not any more ironic than "rain on your
wedding day".

~~~
isleyaardvark
But people on chatroulette are broadcast to the whole world, just one person
at a time.

I know that sounds cheeky, but chatroulette users are already taking chances
with privacy, they're letting some random stranger view into their lives.
Maybe they're not expecting a record of their interaction to be made, but even
that isn't that good of an expectation considering chatroulette videos started
showing up on YouTube almost as soon as chatroulette started.

------
aresant
Logging on with a live cam to ChatRoulette to begin with seems to me a pretty
clear way to abandon your privacy . . .

It's interesting that the takedown revolves around privacy - I get it at some
level, but still.

