O’DonnellWeb

Google sent me an email notifying me that they have disabled my video titled “2007 Christmas Video” because it has been identified by our Content Identification tools as potentially lacking the necessary copyright authorization for use on the Google Video site.

It’s a family Christmas video, which was marked as private and probably viewed by 3 or 4 people at the most. I used Mellencamp’s version of I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra doing Run Run Rudolph, as the soundtrack to the video.

That doesn’t fall under the Fair Use doctrine? And don’t you just love the shoot first, ask questions later attitude at Google? Because it potentially violates a copyright, it’s removed from the Internet. I guess it would be too much to ask for somebody there to actually look at the context and make an intelligent decision.

Do no evil my ass. Google is just as much a corporate tool as any other company. Remember, this is the company many of us entrust with all our email, and increasingly, our documents and spreadsheets too. What happens when they decide to shut down your email?

Ironically, I just remembered that the Google Video was never seen by anybody. The quality at Google Video pales compared to Viddler. I loaded the video at Viddler too and that is the link that I sent to friends and family. Can you have a copyright violation if nobody has actually seen the video?

I just checked my Google Account, apparently I uploaded two versions of the video, one high quality and one normal. The are only blocking one version. That software at Google works real well. I’m going to protest the claim. It’s not like I really care, but it’s the principal of the issue.

Update: Formal complaint filed with Google on 9/3. We’ll see how long it takes to get a response.