
Samsung 'blocks' exploding Note 7 parody videos - Lio
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37713939
======
nailer
Wonder if the attention put on YouTube here will inspire Google to fix the
financial and political 'infringement' takedowns.

Eg, during the takedown process, have something like:

> [ ] I understand that satire and political commentary does not in itself
> consititute copyright infringement, and that I am not filing this notice on
> the basis of the video satirizing or making commentary on my copywritten
> content.

> [ ] I understand that incorrectly flagging satirical or commentary videos
> that mention my trademarks but do not infringe upon my trademark rights may
> delay response to future infringement filings.

Or something similar. IANAL. Complainants must tick the boxes to be able to
submit.

~~~
jhasse
How about an alternative to YouTube? It's such a pity that online videos have
become so centralized ...

~~~
mountaineer22
It is a money-losing game (free video hosting/streaming), unless you re-
appropriate user provided content to extort ad revenue (a la Content ID)?

UPDATE:

Let me add, if somebody would be willing to subsidize such a service (large
co, or gov), it would be possible to compete (market share, not ad revenue
obviously).

~~~
pooper
> Let me add, if somebody would be willing to subsidize such a service (large
> co, or gov)

Except that such a large co or gov would probably not allow certain videos
against itself. Can I force them to host it against their wishes?

I don't mean to add this link sarcastically:
[https://youtu.be/8CMxDNuuAiQ](https://youtu.be/8CMxDNuuAiQ) Maybe we have
hope with ipfs? It looks promising to me
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ipfs/comments/4eyc3v/ipfstube_a_pla...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ipfs/comments/4eyc3v/ipfstube_a_player_for_videos_stored_in_ipfs/)

Edit: obligatory sample video
[https://ipfstube.erindachtler.me/v/QmPCTWTWqrDqRpquM4rqAmgBN...](https://ipfstube.erindachtler.me/v/QmPCTWTWqrDqRpquM4rqAmgBNL94m5UaWNFbz8HNeR49j2)

~~~
mountaineer22
No, I understood you.

Benevolent 501c3, maybe?

Really, the answer would be in symmetric last-mile internet connections, no?
Having the ability to host and distribute/stream video would change many
things in these industries.

~~~
xenophonf
As an aside, why aren't symmetric last-mile Internet connections a thing? Is
it a technical, physical capacity thing, is it a customer demand thing, or
what? The last time I had symmetric bandwidth was back in the days of ISDN.

~~~
detaro
Combination of things. For fiber, direct Ethernet connections, etc that have
clearly separated channels symmetric is fairly common. In ADSL and cable
network the spectrum is shared for up- and download channels, so they have to
balance it. And since marketing mostly happens over download speeds and most
people don't upload very much, offering eg. 50/10 instead of 30/30 makes more
sense.

I don't know why basically all providers don't allow to adjust the ratio, I
suspect to much "complexity" for to little demand. (Quite a while back a
German ISP had that for their ADSL connections, was popular with web
developers and other professionals that needed fast upload occasionally)

~~~
gm-conspiracy
People don't upload very often because their upstream sucks.

This is chicken-and-egg bullshit.

I am sure it is not that difficult to provision.

The area I resided in, had only DSL.

Later, a cable company ran FTTP, with a ONT outside, that converted the fiber
to coax-DOCSIS, and then requires the usage of a cable modem? The ONT has a
RJ-45 port, but the cable company does not know how to enable it.

The DSL was oversubscribed, and provisioned for less than 6Mbps/768kbps.
However, it was only $35/mo.

Once the cable company offered service, it was $60 (plus modem rental or
purchase) for 6Mbps/1Mbps.

Many people switched to the fake-fiber cable network, freeing up capacity on
the DSL, so now the DSL is provisioned at 12Mbps, but upload is still 768kbps,
and still $35/mo.

To get 5Mbps upload via the cable company would require a plan costing over
$100/mo. That is their upper limit of upload speed. They can do 105Mbps down
(closer to $150/mo), but 5Mbps up is the max.

I would love to have even 3Mbps upstream from the DSL provider

For now, I can use LTE for periodic uploading, where I can get 20 to 50Mbps,
but I am paying much more for that privilege.

But, when time is money, I cannot afford to wait 3 hours for data to transfer
at 768kbps (not considering encapsulation - yes, the DSL is PPPoE).

~~~
FireBeyond
"Later, a cable company ran FTTP, with a ONT outside, that converted the fiber
to coax-DOCSIS, and then requires the usage of a cable modem? The ONT has a
RJ-45 port, but the cable company does not know how to enable it."

Not to sound rude, but you don't actually believe that, do you?

~~~
gm-conspiracy
No offense taken.

I agree, it sounds like total BS to me. But, I am not surprised considering it
is a cable company.

------
jMyles
I love you all. :-)

Here we are again, and this thread is full of comments about whether this was
afoul of DMCA or whether there's a way to adjust the system so that these
claims will be more costly to the claimant.

We need to break open the head here, people! We're scientists, right? Step
back from your political ideologies and your fears and tell me what the real
problem is with this biological system.

Right: it's that a single actor can make the decision to censor these things.
It's fundamentally a weak link problem.

Whether or not we fix DMCA, which I'm sure we will, we need to fix the problem
that the weak link exists in the first place. A centralized Youtube will not
do for the information age. Our organism must build immunity such that, no
matter the tantrums of the state, nobody is _capable_ of giving in and handing
over the lollipop.

~~~
clarry
I can't fix the problem so it's up to you. Good luck.

Increasingly, we live in a world of corporate ownership. Not private property.

~~~
whamlastxmas
Or more precisely, a world of rent-seeking instead of innovation. Society's
consumption is constantly shifting away from traditional corporate interests.
However, the one thing people will always need to consume is housing. I think
this is why we're seeing property prices skyrocket - people with money realize
the best and safest place for their money is property since it will always be
in demand.

------
turblety
By uploading a parody video of a Samsung Galaxy exploding, I don't understand
how there is a law being broken? Can someone explain how this is a copyright
issue?

~~~
jnagro
You're right. Satire is fair use.

~~~
1_2__3
This isn't even a fair use defense, and I'm utterly baffled why anyone (let
alone most people) in this thread seems to think it is.

Copyright does not protect Samsung from having their products rendered (in
other words, I'm not breaking the law by drawing a picture of a Samsung phone)
or their name mentioned.

Copyright does not protect marks, that's Trademarks.

Copyright does not protect basic look and feel.

There's no fair use defense here because there is no legitimate claim of
infringement. Just because someone at Samsung clicked the "this is infringing"
box does not A) make it true, or B) require the video author to defend
themselves.

This is basically like Samsung trying to DMCA a newspaper from mentioning
their name or publishing a picture of their phone.

~~~
Declanomous
>This is basically like Samsung trying to DMCA a newspaper from mentioning
their name or publishing a picture of their phone.

I have no doubt that companies would do that if they could. Fortunately such
draconian censorship methods aren't as effective against print media,
especially when said media is ephemeral in the first place.

If the goal of the DMCA is to protect creative works, then it's a huge failure
no matter how you look at it. Not only is it being used as a weapon against
people who are actually creating innovative and original works, it is useless
for protecting those very same individuals. The creative work of individuals
is stolen and shared millions of times each day on sites like Facebook, imgur,
tumblr, and instagram, generating ad revenue for the parent site, and
followers for the pages and individuals committing the thefts, and leaving the
creators of the content with nothing.

You can submit a takedown request as an individual, but by the time it's
honored the post was old news anyways.

I don't have YouTube right now, but here's an article that gives a good
rundown of the Facebook video controversy:
[http://www.businessinsider.com/how-facebook-is-stealing-
bill...](http://www.businessinsider.com/how-facebook-is-stealing-billions-of-
views-youtube-video-goes-viral-2015-11)

Edit: And another link which goes in to a bit more depth:
[http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-copyright-
infringeme...](http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-copyright-infringement-
facebook-content-id-celebrities-2015-5)

------
abdias
It's a funny story but also shows how pathetic (IMO) some companies and
organizations become. They just don't realize the cat is already out the bag.
"Damage control" should not be used for censorship. This is clearly fair use
(satire).

And in general about YouTube and similar companies: This is what happens when
the court principle of innocent until proven guilty is inverted to be guilty
until proven innocent.

There is a reason why freedom of speech is the first amendment in the US
constitution, and Google (and other companies) should adhere and respect the
intentions behind it.

------
mattnewton
Oh boy, Streisand effect in full swing. Block a YouTube video and now get to
the front page of the BBC.

~~~
stevarino
Sadly I don't think Samsung has to worry about the Streisand effect: how much
worse can it really get for them?

This is just damage control for their products not to become complete jokes.

~~~
fizgig
But Samsung has now become a joke for trying to take down the original jokes.
I don't see how anyone at, or working for, Samsung felt this was in the
company's best interest.

------
merb
The good thing is, that after they blocked it. It appears EVERYWHERE in the
news, so EVERYBODY see's it. Instead of some people (gamer community).

The block backfired.

------
Jabbles
Update: video(s?) is back up: [http://kotaku.com/youtube-blocks-samsungs-
takedown-of-gta-v-...](http://kotaku.com/youtube-blocks-samsungs-takedown-of-
gta-v-note-7-bomb-v-1788042206)

~~~
bronson
The video appears to have had a few tens of thousand views before Samsung's
complaint. Two days later, it's nearing 1.4 million views.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GhODn4FRoE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GhODn4FRoE)

Nice job Samsung!

------
felipelemos
Like this?
[https://media.giphy.com/media/3oz8xAfsxiA9aBytq0/source.gif](https://media.giphy.com/media/3oz8xAfsxiA9aBytq0/source.gif)

------
jnagro
Satire is fair use. Someone should sue Samsung, Get Lawrence Lessig on this!

~~~
adrr
US government just needs to enforce laws against corporations abusing the
DMCA. Samsung committed perjury by saying they hold the copyright to these
videos.

~~~
icebraining
Not quite. Samsung claimed they own the copyright to some work, and that this
video is in violation of such copyright (for example, the videos could include
a photo or text owned by Samsung). I don't think the perjury clause applies if
they're just wrong about the latter.

~~~
adrr
They claimed copyright on a Grand Theft Audio screen capture video that had
the grenade model substituted for a cell phone. No way you could argue you own
copyright on that.

------
vlunkr
I feel like the best thing Samsung could do for themselves right now from a PR
perspective is just apologize and shut up.

------
warrenmiller
methinks this will only lead to the barbra streisand effect.

~~~
corobo
I'd not heard of it until now. Streisand is in full effect.

I've also grabbed a copy of the mod in case they decide to abuse copyright to
take that down too, pretty sure I can upload it to sites faster than they can
DMCA them. The real lesson here is don't make exploding phones.

~~~
milankragujevic
I have to bitch about Samsung once more, because their batteries are absolute
shit and puff up even if charged with their original charger in the original
phone, and so innocently the batteries' warranty is 6 month but they puff up
and decrease in capacity dramatically after 7-8 months of use.

~~~
dasboth
I have to agree. I should have learned my lesson after the Galaxy S2 Mini I
had, but I went and got the S4 Mini anyway. I regret it now - after 18 months
it barely lasts a day with me not doing much with it and gets very hot. Last
Samsung I bought for a long time, that's for sure.

~~~
JoelBennett
It getting hot just sitting there would be more a sign of some background
process that is running the CPU at full tilt. I've had the same thing happen
to a Blackberry and a Nokia Windows Phone.

Either way, it's a crummy situation to deal with. Sometimes rebooting helps.

~~~
dasboth
Yeah when I notice it getting hot I usually reboot to kill any background
processes. Typically what happens is I put it away and pick it up half an hour
later only to see that it's dropped like 10% battery. My next smartphone
purchase will be almost entirely based on battery life.

------
joesmo
This is why we need strict, very harsh penalties for abuse of copyright (and
patent laws). This has NOTHING to do with copyright, yet these Samsung
assholes file claims with Youtube? How about 1% net revenue fine for every
wrongful copyright claim (like, but not limited to, a bad DMCA claim),
increasing by 1% (with no limit other than at 100% you lose the business) for
every wrongful subsequent claim? But of course, this will never happen.
Personally, I see these kinds of attacks as justification for piracy and the
willful disobedience of our incredibly stupid laws (in the US).

------
msh
Is there a major mobile phone producer with lower morals than Samsung?

~~~
pearjuice
Apple comes to mind.

~~~
cmdrfred
Your getting downvoted beacuse morals only apply to people in the same social
caste as you.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides)

~~~
gambiting
And I am sure that employees working at factories that make parts for other
manufacturers absolutely never kill themselves due to their work, and that
foxconn never supplies parts for anyone else but Apple?

Let's be realistic for a second.

~~~
cmdrfred
From the wiki

"Fell from apartment building[11] after losing an iPhone prototype in his
possession.[12] Prior to death, he claimed he was beaten and his residence
searched by Foxconn employees."

~~~
gambiting
And if Apple used any other factory in China it wouldn't have happened? Or are
you saying that Apple murdered someone?

~~~
clarry
> And if Apple used any other factory in China it wouldn't have happened?

It could have happened in another factory. However, it surely wouldn't have
happened in every single factory. And it _shouldn 't_ have happened in any
factory. If large corps like Apple are in a position to influence a change
such than things like this do not happen in the factories they rely on, then
perhaps it is their moral responsibility to do so. If not them, who else would
do it?

~~~
gambiting
The government of the country those factories are operating in, perhaps???

~~~
cmdrfred
So manifest destiny is your arugment essentially?

~~~
gambiting
I literally had no idea what that was, and after googling it have no clue how
it relates. So the answer is - I don't know.

~~~
cmdrfred
Colonial Americans believed that they were right in displacing native
Americans due to that fact that God did not stop them from doing so. Basically
its moral as long as nobody stops you.

------
mooveprince
Dear Samsung, Still lot to do -[https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/20/obama-
roasts-samsung-over-...](https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/20/obama-roasts-
samsung-over-burning-phones/)

------
zeroer
I never would have seen the video without the 'block'. Thanks Samsung, that
was funny!

------
Keverw
I don't know what's the most abused laws are, but I'd say copyright would
probably be in the top 10 list if there was such a list. I wish people who
abuse copyright takedowns repeatedly would get a large fine. Then the fine
should be split between the uploader and service provider. Plus the takedown
abuser should have to pay all legal fees on top of the fine.

------
sidcool
Such attempts have rarely gone successful in past. May be the Streisand effect
will be known as Samsung effect

------
technifreak
Maybe this has nothing to do with DMCA and more to do with Samsung spending
millions of dollars in advertising on Youtube (speculation). If one of your
major sponsors threatens to pull back advertising dollars, that supports your
platform, maybe you bow to their requests. Maybe.

------
robertjwhitney
Boy, this is really going to blow up in their face.

------
frostirosti
This is the abuse of the copyright system people warned about and YouTube
downplayed.

------
jaimehrubiks
So this means that Samsung could ask that any video which shows their phones
to be removed from the internet? Because it is a copyright claim...

------
beedogs
Samsung must really not want to be in the mobile phone business anymore. The
dim-witted actions they're taking in regards to these videos will only turn
more people off. I for one will never consider a Samsung product now, and not
just their mobile phones. They're set to join Sony on my relatively short "do
not buy" list.

------
vermontdevil
Like it'll work?

With Halloween coming up, expect plenty of pics and videos of people wearing
Samsung Note 7 wrapped around them as a suicide vest.

------
Pyxl101
Here are a couple of the videos with what I believe is the content:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enK5XGETCZM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enK5XGETCZM)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQjAM94W23Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQjAM94W23Q)

------
Vaebn
Naturally I now want to see all of them.

------
jmclnx
I guess Samsung will keep a lonely Sony company on my "do not buy list", too
bad. BTW, in the US, last I heard Parodies is a protected form of speech. So I
think DoctorGTA has the law on his/her side (assuming he is living in the US).

------
hyperhopper
There seems to be a lot of people saying the government should do something
about this.

Keep in mind, this is not related to DMCA or copyright at all: this is a
software system in use by a private company. No laws were broken, it is just
extremely scummy behavior.

------
DarkIye
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect)

~~~
exodust
No shit. Is that the best you can do? Link to Wikipedia for the Streisand
effect when the story already explains what that is?

I might follow your lead and add links to Wikipedia's entry for...

GTA V:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_V)

The BBC:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC)

and Youtube:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube)

Just in case anyone out there has NFI what these are.

------
zelon88
Have they never heard of the Streisand effect?

------
smegel
How do you say Streisand Effect in Korean?

------
jamesjyu
I even heard Obama making a quip about the Note catching fire. Are they going
to send him a reprimand as well? :)

------
Gaelan
Better title: Samsung sends copyright claim for exploding Note 7 parody videos

------
teekert
I love such news, their comment threads are the best source of funny Note 7
jokes :)

I can't find it now but I saw an image of a terrorist with a Note 7 belt under
his jacket. Nice.

Why can't they think of a fun way to deal with this PR disaster, how hard can
it be? Jeez what are they thinking??

~~~
awqrre
Samsung probably gave ideas to terrorists

------
aerialcombat
Typical Samsung

------
haterz187
I would love a note 7

------
andrewclunn
Internet censorship concerns, video games, faulty technology, and a big tech
firm threatening legal action... No wonder this is top ranked on Hacker News.

------
gok
Why would Google want to leave up a video that ridicules their top hardware
partner? YouTube isn't a public service.

~~~
logicallee
According to a recent UN report to be released in a few months and which I've
gotten an advanced copy of, YCombinator is the worst organization in the
history of modern civilization.

That was a satirical sentence. Now let's examine your argument as applied
directly to this very comment. Why is it in YCombinator's (the organization
that runs this forum we're both posting in) interest to "keep up" this
comment, which is obviously satirical by being over-the-top.

Because the default is "keeping up."

They would be crazy to remove it, which won't happen. The situation might be
different if this were a new account not making a valid, albeit satirical,
point. The fact that "YCombinator is not a public service" is not right,
because yes, in some ways, Hacker News _is_ a public service in a sense, and
so is YouTube.

Maybe not exactly, but it is not highly administered to promote only a single
thought.

 _Note: I want to add the disclaimer that I really actually don 't have
negative feelings about YCombinator, in case someone misunderstands. I'm
literally just making a point by showing that just because they run this
service doesn't mean they would remove a comment like this one. You need
really, really good reason to remove something. By default things stay up._

~~~
logicallee
I've been downvoted, but I think people didn't get my point at all. There is
no _way_ that YCombinator is removing this comment, just because they host
this platform, and for emphasis I pretend to be critical.

There is no WAY youtube would remove a video of an exploding samsung, just
because samsung is a partner.

~~~
spash
The downvote(s) on your comment were really saddening, though I was expecting
exactly that when reading it few hours ago. This is sadly a trend with any
discussion platform becoming "popular" past a certain threshold - the presence
of forum warriors who "moderate" the content based on the few initial words is
only going to rise up until everything becomes Reddit.

That said, I think your post was well written and right on spot - but the
first sentence is a so obvious trigger that there are always going to be
people that won't even bother reading past it. After all, there's so much to
moderate and --- "Oh, hey! There's another post that looks dangerous! I've
just noticed some words!"

~~~
logicallee
On reflection and keeping the very useful posting guidelines in mind, I edited
my comment into its present form, likely after you read it. (The original
first sentence originally contained over-the-top trigger words like literally
being an example of Godwin's law, as a demonstration that this was insufficent
to cause it's removal.) I decided to edit it into its (still satirical)
present form because the HN guidelines about making substantive comments are
good and improve the site for everyone. Although the original phrasing
invoking Godwin's law still wouldn't have been removed, and therefore still
would have served as an apt demonstration, I think the present phrasing is
better.

Actually the fact that my original phrasing did not meet the nominal
guidelines on civility (because it invoked Godwin's law) whereas this one does
is an important point: after all the video obeys YouTube's nominal guidelines.
(For example it doesn't contain nudity.) So my present, quite civil (in line
with HN guidelines) phrasing is the best analogy/demonstration.

------
siculars
These people are so dumb and just don't get "it." Samsung is so dumb, they are
very dumb, for real. So dumb, so dumb, so dumb, so.... they climbing in your
windows trying to rape your GTA and youtube accounts. ([0])

All this is going to do is encourage tens of thousands of young kids to figure
out what things like "DRM", "free speech", "EFF", "privacy", "copyright" and
the like mean. Maybe we get a few good lawyers out of this, a lot of great
parody and a lot of great art.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEAKsaQOCpQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEAKsaQOCpQ)

