Performance Rights Group Takes Down YouTube Video Of Auschwitz Survivor Dancing To 'I Will Survive' At Aushwitz
from the ah,-copyright dept
Benny6Toes points us to a story about an Auschwitz survivor, who went back to Auswitz with his grandkids and recently filmed a video of them dancing to Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive -- as a way to celebrate life and the ability to overcome obstacles. The story is about the basic controversy over the video, as some folks find it offensive and others find it heartwarming. However, Benny notes that the video has been taken down. The video attached to that HuffPo story, when you click on it, says "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim made by APRA." APRA is a performance rights group for Australia, which raises a few questions as to why they're able to take down a video for the rest of the world. It's also not entirely clear if this was a YouTube ContentID match or a DMCA takedown (it would be nice if YouTube actually came out and said which one).Defenders of such a takedown will, I'm sure, point out that they used the whole song without permission. However, this is clearly not a commercial venture, and is really an attempt to give a life-affirming message. It's not as if they would have paid for the song otherwise. There is no money being "lost" here. In the meantime, it looks like the family has reposted the video while warning that it will likely get taken down again soon. At the time I write this, it is working:
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Filed Under: aushwitz, i will survive, takedown, youtube
Companies: apra
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APRA?
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I call Godwin
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I'll never hear it again without thinking of this video.
That is the best praise a song could ever had...
And, to those "gentleman" of APRA, taking down this song is a crime against humanity. That video is a simple gesture, but, with a meaning that no copyright can take. EVER.
Celebrating the fact that he survived the monstrosity that was Auschwitz, with that song, it's ABOVE fair use, it's a Human RIGHT. Remember what human beings are? No, they are not the # of names and addresses from whom you can demand payment for your inability to do anything of value.
Maybe in a few years someone will also use this same song as a symbol that they survived the copywars.
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Re:
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Magnetic Personality
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They just wanna be like the big kids
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How much do I owe to make it so?
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Safe
No, the URL is not a bad attempt at humor. It's for a LARP I run. :) The video will be safe there until the people who made it tell me to take it down.
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Re: Safe
Thank you.
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Re: Re: Safe
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Re: Safe
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APRA Taking Down Video For Rest Of The World
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When I Think Of Auschwitz ...
... I think of the late Jacob Bronowski, and his 1973 documentary on the history of science, The Ascent of Man. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a classic. Forget lots of flashy effects—much of it is this beetle-browed little academic-looking guy just talking. But I found it absolutely riveting.
Anyway, there’s the scene where he visits Auschwitz, where several of his relatives died (he himself was lucky enough to escape to the UK). There’s a pond where they dumped the ashes of the bodies after burning them. So he stands there in his elegant suit and expensive-looking black leather shoes, and carefully and deliberately takes two steps—ruining those shoes in the process—right into the pond. Just to get a little closer to his dead relatives, and all the other victims.
Every time I see that, I cry.
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What in heaven were they thinking
Most composers and singers would kill for something like this and would let it pass which leads me to wonder if APRA even bothered to contact anyone.
The video ends with the intro to Leonard Cohen's "Dancing to the End of Love" which is continued in the Part 2 video. I'm just trying to imagine Cohen's reaction to some idiot performance rights group ordering it taken down.
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'I Will Survive'
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We have to touch people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd3lanJHduQ
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The other side
However, I'm sorry to have to play the cynic here and point out that they also seem to promoting the download of an HQ version (since the uploaded quality is rubbish and unnecessarily so, since I know YouTube can do better) through the Sharecash service, which gets the uploader money at the cost of the extremely annoying and invasive "survey" the downloader has to enroll to.
They're not just sharing their heartwarming dancing show, they are trying to cash out on it. Not saying there is anything wrong with that per se, but I do think that the performance rights group has reason to be upset in this case, since there is a profit motive behind the use of the song, which is quite central to the whole point of the video.
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Re: The other side
OK, I take it back. I was misled by Mike's statement that the family itself seemed to have reposted the video. The linked version is not a re-upload by the family, and it doesn't seem like they have ever tried to get any profit from the video. The original uploader (who lives in a Australia, btw) never tried to re-post it.
This case appears to be some random person with a downloaded copy who decided s/he could take advantage of the controversy to try to cash out from downloads by posting a rubbish quality version and pointing people in the direction of the HQ version. Shame on you, MsBeatguy, shame on you.
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Thanks for the AWESOME video
Going to spread it immediately, this one HAS to go viral.
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How is this even close to fair use?
The video is as clear of a case of Copyright INFRINGEMENT as you can find, yet somehow it's magically transformed to acceptable because it's got a concentration camp survivor standing in front of the camp in it.
Copyright laws are in place to allow the creator/owner of said rights some level of control over their work.
Just because the guy survived the camp, just because the camp is an attrocity of the past does not justify unauthorized use of the music, or a distortion of the creator's views and intentions for the work.
And I could easily argue that the intent of the video was commercial exploitation of the music. If the intent was personal there would have been no uploading to YouTube. The intent of the video was to draw attention to the family, and to the survivor. If it was personal then it would have remained in their home or on their computer etc.
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Re: How is this even close to fair use?
There may be copyright issues in having used the whole song, but I suspect most people who aren't money-grasping no-souled **AAers will appreciate the essential humanity of this gesture.
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Re: How is this even close to fair use?
Just because the guy survived the camp, just because the camp is an attrocity of the past does not justify unauthorized use of the music, or a distortion of the creator's views and intentions for the work."
In some order, actually: No they're not, and yes it does.
The video is as clear of a case of Fair Use as you can find.
Finally, uploading to youtube != commercial exploitation.
Any other ignorant rants you'd care to make, sir?
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Re: How is this even close to fair use?
- Michial Thompson keepin it classy as usual, in a way not unlike that of the APRA.
"The video is as clear of a case of Copyright INFRINGEMENT"
- Thank you Capt Obvious. I'm sure no one was aware of this fact until you brought it up.
"Copyright laws are in place to allow the creator/owner of said rights some level of control over their work"
- The APRA is the creator/rights owner? I did not find this bit of information, where did you see it?
"Just because the guy survived the camp, just because the camp is an attrocity of the past does not justify unauthorized use of the music, or a distortion of the creator's views and intentions for the work."
- Ok, fair enough. But the actions of the APRA make the APRA look like a douche bag outfit.
"And I could easily argue that the intent of the video was commercial exploitation of the music. If the intent was personal there would have been no uploading to YouTube. The intent of the video was to draw attention to the family, and to the survivor. If it was personal then it would have remained in their home or on their computer etc."
- Apparently Michial Thompson does not realize how the internet is used by people. In addition, he seems confused about definitions. In layman's terms, commercial use implies a direct or indirect monitary gain. I do not see it, perhaps someone else does. Just because a person posts something online does not mean that it is no longer considered personal use, not sure where this idea comes from.
In summary, I think you are wrong - again.
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Re: How is this even close to fair use?
I've uploaded a few videos to YouTube that have had the music stripped out for so-called violations. It's retarded. I didn't make those videos for commercial purposes, just for fun and to show friends and others.
I was brought up to respect copyright, but was also taught if you had no commercial intent it was okay. When did these barbarians decide that if you post a 30 second clip of your two year old dancing to some song that happened to be playing on the radio it was copyright infringement?
As much as I have problems with people using other people's creations to make a living, there has to be some leeway when it comes to regular people who have no other aspirations other than other people might enjoy it.
I think that discussion is lacking here on Techdirt, as the concern seems to be more about the appropriation of others work to make money rather than the average Joe who has a clever or not so clever)idea and just wants to share it with no idea of making money from it.
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Re: Re: How is this even close to fair use?
As for this video or any other video where an entire song us used. Infringement is infringement.
I could care less about the guy being a camp survivor or not. It happened 70 years ago, very few if any of the people responsible for the camps and their attrocities are even alive today. The people alive today didn't have anything to do with them and should not suffer and pay for something they did not do.
Jew or non jew alike, move the fuck on in life.
Same for blacks in America, hell half of Americans today didn't even have family in the US when slavory was legal, let alone should they pay for it.
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Re: Re: Re: How is this even close to fair use?
Your inhumanity is noted, and when the overlords enslave the world, your baiting will be rewarded with a nice position torturing little old ladies for driving slow...
What an shit-stain you are... have a nice fucking life - we're trying to celebrate ours
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Re: Re: Re: How is this even close to fair use?
Your understanding is wrong. There are provisions in U.S. Copyright law concerning "Fair Use." While Fair Use is horribly vague, its sole focus is on intention.
However, this video was forced down by APRA (Australian Performing Right Association), so international copyright laws and jurisdiction fighting blur the laws even further.
Situations like this are exactly what Fair Use was designed for.
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Re: Re: Re: How is this even close to fair use?
It's kind of weird, but I do agree with you on one point :
- Yes, if one wants to show a video, he shouldn't put it on Youtube. He should instead host it on a personal server, same for social networking data (ie the Diaspora project), and for emails (everybody should host his own emails, not mister Microsoft). So we agree on that : self-hosting is very important, let us support it together.
But for the camp survivor, maybe you should sue him and have him fined for $22500, which is the amount sir Tenenbaum (goddammit, another German Jew descendant, are you really after them?) had to pay. Or maybe have him jailed if you cannot shake him down for that money
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Have to say it
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Auschwitz survivors
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NWO! NWO!
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Re: NWO! NWO!
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Re: NWO! NWO!
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Dancing in Auschwitz
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Ironic
Great Job Ass Hats. As usual, you look like jackasses who never seem to get it. Rather than embracing the opertunity to get a little positive press, you just decide to come off as the gestapo... AGAIN. Who's running your business into the ground? Oh yeah "pirates", I forgot.
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Re: Ironic
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Re: Ironic
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Music Copyright
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Okay this is creepy
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People who took that down...
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LOVE the video
I wish every Jew could go and dance at the camps to show that we as a people have been survivors.
Each word of the song is given new, poignant meaning in the context of the camp.
Blessings to the Kohn family.
I only wish the links to download the behind scenes videos and HQ version didn't take people to the scam artist surveys.
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Wait, what? Who finds it offensive? The Huffpo article doesn't say either.
Man survived Auschwitz, he can dance to whatever the hell he wants.
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Re:
Imagine, if you would, a sixty six year old man with a disfigured leg, limping heavily and using a cane, dancing awkwardly and painfully to this song, with tears of joy in his eyes.
"I survived," he'd tell me, voice choked with emotion. "For myself, for the friends lost, for the children killed, I will dance. And in dancing, they will be remembered."
Trust me, it sounded way better and more poetic in Flemish.
I was six the first time I saw him dance to this song. I was twelve when he died.
And each time I hear that song, I think of Oncle Jacques. I remember him, his stories, the tales he told of his friends. I think of his promise to always remember.
And then, since he's gone, I remember for him.
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Re: Re:
Well it gave me goose bumps in English, thanks for sharing.
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Jane Korman's Dancing Auschwitz
"...this is clearly not a commercial venture, and is really an attempt to give a life-affirming message. It's not as if they would have paid for the song otherwise. There is no money being "lost" here." !!!
In addition, the video is great, and indeed heart-warming and life-affirming! Great job, Jane! Love it!
Heike
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Auschwitz survivor dance
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Survival video
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Dancing at Aushwitz
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Re: Dancing at Aushwitz
Actually they might. While I agree with your sentiment, unless a court determined the video was fair use, the organization may have the right to demand that it be removed.
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The Swastica's
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Re: The Swastica's
A. That's not a swastika, it's a gravatar. It's automatically generated from the information in your IP address to distinguish you from other anonymous commenters.
B. The swastika was adopted by the Nazis, not communists.
C. Forgot to mention above that the people you're complaining about are indeed not American as you claim. They're Australian.
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