Fox Demands Site Give Up Fair Use Rights, Run Special Fox Ads, To Do Any Commentary

from the fair-use-doesn't-work-that-way dept

Tue, Feb 3rd 2009 3:39pm — Mike Masnick

Here's a follow up to our story last Friday about Progress Illinois having its YouTube account restored. The YouTube account had been taken down following multiple DMCA takedown notices from Fox, leading YouTube to institute its usual policy of shutting such accounts down. Progress Illinois sent a counternotice, and after Fox failed to sue the activist group, the account was turned back on. Paul Alan Levy points us to some more troubling details about the discussions between Progress Illinois and Fox. Apparently, Fox sought to have Progress Illinois waive its fair use rights on all future Fox material and demanded that it be allowed to run ads on the Progress Illinois site in exchange for allowing the content to be placed on YouTube. On top of this, Levy notes that Fox is apparently preparing a deal with another video site (that will include its desired ads), which Fox will apparently demand sites use in reporting on Fox News reports. As Levy suggests, Fox may then use this to suggest that any "unauthorized" clip of a Fox broadcast fails the "impact on the market" prong of the fair use test. If true, that could create quite an interesting test case the first time Fox employs that argument on a site doing commentary. Its lawyers do know that failing one prong of the test doesn't automatically disqualify a fair use defense, right?

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Filed Under: commentary, copyright, demands, fair use
Companies: eff, fox, progress illinois, public citizen

23 Comments

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Anonymous Poster, 3 Feb 2009 @ 4:13pm

That's horrible. That's terrible.

Why would anyone ever watch Fox News?
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inc, 3 Feb 2009 @ 4:37pm

fuck fox
fox needs to eat all the dicks
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Sailingmaster, 3 Feb 2009 @ 4:38pm

Oh come on...
Why would anyone watch _any_ American based news channel? If you're going to watch the news America, watch BBC.

The BBC is much less likely to have an agenda that affects the average American viewer.
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sam, 3 Feb 2009 @ 4:53pm

ok
Fox news is alright. Most people that I see complaining about fox news have never watched it or they only see clips taken out of context on youtube.

Me personally I don't watch it. As a vivid obama support I only believe in communism and fox news is against that. Therefor I only watch news from the terrorist news group al jazeera. They are not bad at all. And I love how they hate americans and are therefor able to give non-biased opinions, err I mean news.
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Peet McKimmie (profile), 3 Feb 2009 @ 5:01pm

Fox???
Naked News has more in-depth coverage than Fox!
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chase32, 3 Feb 2009 @ 5:39pm

Re: ok
Wow, seems like the fox coolaid is pretty tasty in sam-land. I know that the foxies seemed to think that the difference between capitalism and socialism during the election was repealing a 3% bush tax cut. Now you are saying that the president of the US is communist! hehe, whoa buddy. got any more of that stuff you are smokin?
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Kevin C., 3 Feb 2009 @ 5:44pm

@sam - I can usually tell when a person thinks they are smarter than they actually are and you, well...you.
Actually, I watched faux news for 4-5 months preceding the election. I am not lying or exaggerating, this is the gods honest truth: I watched fox news for comedic relief. It was funny to watch the other channels and then turn to fox to see how they twisted the facts, left stuff out, or added their infamous 'some people say' remark. 'Some people say' that obama eats babies, and 'I've heard it said' that democrats want to give all of our taxes dollars to a crippled kid in southern Argentina.
Yeah, it was said, by them. That's just bad journalism and pretty evil to boot.

Just in case a fox viewer doesn't realize this: Fox news lies and manipulates the public. You should stop watching it.
To all of those fox 'fans', that adamantly disagree and think that fox news is the only one 'on the right side': piss off, you backwards moron. You're yet one more reason this country is so screwed up.
Alternatively, it could be due to a mental deficit. I'm sure that most fox viewers are republicans so, sam, you know what a d-e-f-i-c-i-t is, right?

If this site had a 'report abuse' link, I would report myself. I apologize to everyone, except the afore mentioned, and it won't happen again...unless extra chromosome boy jumps back in with another flailing attempt at pith.
Best
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Ross H., 3 Feb 2009 @ 5:50pm

Re:
Cheers!
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Lived there ... done that, 3 Feb 2009 @ 5:54pm

Re: Oh come on...
You are right, "The BBC is much less likely to have an agenda that affects the average American viewer." What is available here in the US is more worldly than the US or local centric news. .... Realize though .... they do have their own agenda. Don't believe for one minute that they are unbiased. The BBC is the UK's voice to the world.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2009 @ 6:23pm

Fox is not news - it is propaganda
Fox news is neither fair nor balanced.

I find it amusing that Fox thinks they can force their critics into submission.
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opit, 3 Feb 2009 @ 7:30pm

'Fox'
Robert Murdoch's media manipulations have won his whole network special recognition. I kid you not. Any perceptive viewer will appreciate that when somebody says it should be 'Faux', they are substituting a sounds-the-same French word meaning 'false'.
The original blog is gone: Welcome to Pottersville ( written by Jurrasic Pork!) is now replaced by Welcome Back to Pottersville. Anyway, Larry Johnson at No Quarter ( ex-CIA field super ) really gave a rousing applause article for what likely fell afoul of copyright law : JP ran a long set of screenshots of Fox News stories showing how absolute and utter B.S. ruled their headings.
News ? Pathetic and deceitful, yes. News coverage ? Not even good satire.
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Somebody, 3 Feb 2009 @ 7:30pm

Fox is Funny but Dangerous
I too watch FOX Noise just to laugh and gain an insight into american media corruption on shows like the O'rielly Factor. But sometimes I'm too disgusted by sean hannity and laura ingraham spouting their abhorrent message of absolute bigotry and have to change the channel.

A lot of FOX is downright dangerous hate&fear-mongering and it needs to be stopped.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 12:49am

Re: Fox is not news - it is propaganda
FAUX News makes the Onion look reputable.

Fairly Imbalanced and O'Really's Free Spin Zone- because if we had to charge for it no one could afford it.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 4:12am

Re: Fox is not news - it is propaganda
ABC, NBC, and CBS are neither fair nor balanced.

I find it amusing that ABC, NBC, and CBS can force their critics into submission.

Hay wait a minute, that makes then just like Fox but with a different agenda.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 6:14am

Re: Re: ok
my sarcasm meter went off on that post of sam's...

I think one of us needs theirs adjusted but I'm still not sure who....
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 6:25am

Re: Re: Fox is not news - it is propaganda
the difference is that fox news pretends to be fair and balanced, the other stations don't. So yes the other stations (and I don't watch them either unless I want to laugh) are shitty places to get news, but fox is just as bad, if not worse because it claims to be balanced.

seriously, if you want news, get it online because all the TV stations (except possibly local news, but even then...) suck for news.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 4 Feb 2009 @ 8:23am

Re:
I think you need to only compare the actual news reporting segments of either station to see if there is slant. Any of these opinion talk shows will of course be what they are...opinion not news.

Just in case a fox viewer doesn't realize this: Fox news lies and manipulates the public.

I didn't know Dan Rather worked for Fox.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 4 Feb 2009 @ 8:38am

Re: 'Fox'
You must have never heard a french person speak this word before because they don't pronounce the x and the au sound is similar to saying the letter o. The translation is correct but the pronunciation (sounds-the-same for the non-perceptive) is different. I am glad that only perceptive viewers would pick this up, too. Must be that liberal elitism. =P
P.S. I don't watch Fox News. My conservative beliefs come from my own logic. Sorry that your logic might be different but, hey, welcome to the U.S.A.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 9:58am

Re: Re: Re: Fox is not news - it is propaganda
the difference is that fox news pretends to be fair and balanced, the other stations don't.

I really doubt any station is out there saying, "we're biased and have an agenda, choosing to report certain facts in a certain light," so I think it's a stretch to say any of them have a moral high ground. They're all biased; even online, the best idea is usually to take in a whole bunch of reports and find the common middle ground -- that's most likely to be The Truth.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 10:02am

Re: Fox is Funny but Dangerous
A lot of FOX is downright dangerous hate&fear-mongering and it needs to be stopped.

The appropriate response to such is not to stifle it but to refute it. If you smother them, they become martyrs. If you refute them, they're exposed as idiots.
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nasch, 4 Feb 2009 @ 10:45am

Re:
Extra chromosome boy... best slight ever! Still laughing at that one.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 12:28pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Fox is not news - it is propaganda
uh, no other news station does what fox does and claims to be "fair and balanced". that's what I was referring to, the other sites so say we're biased, but they don't claim to fairly represent both sides like fox does. and I'll admit to hating fox a bit more than other news stations because of that, along with how they would (maybe the still do? I haven't watched in a while) bring people who they claimed were liberals when they were really moderates, or bring liberals who only set up straw-men for the person in charge to knock down.

I would say it depends on the websites for news that you go to as there are some unbiased places (few and far between I'll admit) and places that will admit their bias upfront to clearly delineate fact and opinion.
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Somebody, 5 Feb 2009 @ 3:10pm

Re: Re: Fox is Funny but Dangerous
You are right of course but you can never refute a bigot, the comment just goes in one ear and out the other and they NEVER change.

Just watch Hannity's America for 10 minutes and you'll see waht i'm talking about.
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