Takedown (Non-DMCA) Filed Against YouTube Video Challenging Controversial Cancer Clinic

from the standing-up-for-free-speech dept

Fri, Apr 19th 2013 11:20am — Mike Masnick

Until reading up on this story, I had never heard of the Burzynski Clinic, which is a controversial "cancer treatment" clinic in Houston. It appears that the clinic has something of a history of trying to legally threaten and bully those who challenged its treatments, often with threats of libel lawsuits against critics. After the last major incident, in November of 2011, the clinic issued a press release saying that it had fired the "web optimization" expert it previously hired "to attempt to stop the dissemination of false and inaccurate information." However, the tone of the rest of the letter was still in line with the pattern of complaining about critics.

And, it appears, the clinic continues to bully critics too. The website Skeptical Humanities is claiming that Eric Merola, a filmmaker close to Burzynski who made an uncritical film about it, has been able to take down a video critical of Burzynski, and is also trying to get the author at Skeptical Humanities, Bob Blaskiewicz, kicked off Facebook. Skeptical Humanities claims that he used an "illegal DMCA takedown" to get the video taken down, but I don't think that's correct. You can look at the page where the video once was, and rather than a typical DMCA notice, instead it has a notice I hadn't seen before: "This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube's policy against spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content."

That's not a DMCA (or even a content ID) issue, but rather (as it suggests) stems from complaints about the content being somehow spammy or scammy. Blaskiewicz decided to repost/mirror the video, and I don't see how anything in it qualifies as "spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content." It presents a bunch of information about why people might want to be skeptical of the Burzynski clinic, but is quite clear in laying out its evidence and suggesting people be careful and verify everything. Furthermore, Blaskiewicz notes that, last year, Merola had urged people on Facebook to report some Blaskiewicz Facebook comments as "spam" or "hate speech" with the very clear stated goal of having Facebook "knock this guy off for a while."

For a company that claims to be careful about its social media presence, you'd think it could do a lot better than going after online critics.

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Filed Under: burzynski, burzynski clinic, controversial, criticism, eric merola, takedowns

21 Comments

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Ninja (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 11:09am

Wouldn't that be a crime?
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out_of_the_blue (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 11:23am

Something about Mike being a pirate or something.
I would like to inform you that I am leaving this site. I know it is unfortunate that Mike will miss out on my wisdom. But the media/congress conglomerate needs me as a politician/lobbyist who is always right.

Do not worry, you will see me again soon when I am making new laws to line my pockets.

Take a loopy tour of I'm_a_moron.com
You always end up in the same place.
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- Rikuo (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 11:50am
  
  Re: Something about Mike being a pirate or something.
  If only you were the real blue and if by some strange miracle you are. if only you would keep your word this time.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 11:53am
    
    Re: Re: Something about Mike being a pirate or something.
    I'm afraid I'm not. Most of that is facetious. But I really do think he could make a successful lobbyist. After all, he wouldn't have to debate the truth, just make sure his side seems right.
    
    Anyway... back to the point on hand. Maybe it's about time that internet services introduce anti-SLAPP measures.
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- Shadow Dragon (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 11:55am
  
  Re: Something about Mike being a pirate or something.
  Hello, Jack Thompson. Your tricks won't won't work. Please Go away and get life. You making yourself look bad. I wonder if you care about that.
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- BearGriz72 (profile), 20 Apr 2013 @ 10:31am
  
  Re: Something about Mike being a pirate or something.
  Well we warned the "real" OotB that if he didn't register his handle then someone else would...
  He has no one but himself to blame.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 12:02pm

Love the "stop harassing cancer patients" bit. Way to hide behind sick people. Classy, man. Classy.
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zerostar83 (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 12:02pm

I don't get it. Are they advertising their gimmicks the way those late-night infomercials sell "seaweed extract?"
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gorehound (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 12:11pm

Sue the Company in East Texas ! It is not to far away from their location.
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RJB, 19 Apr 2013 @ 12:11pm

Takedown order...
Thank for the heads up about the DMCA status. Just an FYI, I made the changes.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 12:17pm

YouTube uses that warning a lot to censor videos.
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Boris Ogon (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 12:19pm

Skeptical Humanities claims that he used an "illegal DMCA takedown" to get the video taken down, but I don't think that's correct.

That's because you're looking at the wrong video. The bogus-DMCA one, which now has at least five mirrors, is this. The second, explanatory one is simply Merola and his sad rump of hit-and-run Burzynski supporters (who just might be receiving compensation in the form of face-value stock warrants; check out the trading history of BZYR) abusing the YouTube "report" function.
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Akari Mizunashi (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 12:20pm

YouTube keeps this up, and there isn't going to be a YouTube.

It'll be known as CatTube.
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sorrykb (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 12:24pm

#correction
Until reading up on this story, I had never heard of the Burzynski Clinic, which is a controversial "cancer treatment" clinic in Houston.

Replace the word "controversial" with "fake" and the sentence will be just fine. There are any number of other adjectives that would also be appropriate.
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- DogBreath, 20 Apr 2013 @ 11:01am
  
  Re: #correction
  They are a "prestigious" clinic that has won a recent award (unfortunately for them, it was from James Randi):
  
  JREF's Pigasus Awards �Honors� Dubious Peddlers of �Woo�
  
  Hollywood, CA. �The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) promotes critical thinking through grants for outstanding teachers, scholarships to inspire skeptical students, educational resources for the classroom and general public, and annual conferences showcasing the best of skeptical thought�but every April Fools� Day, JREF �honors� the five worst offenders who are intentionally or unintentionally peddling harmful paranormal and pseudoscientific nonsense.
  
  Since 1997, the JREF�s annual Pigasus Awards have been bestowed on the most deserving charlatans, swindlers, psychics, pseudo-scientists, and faith healers�and on their credulous promoters, too. The awards are named for both the mythical flying horse Pegasus of Greek mythology, and the highly improbable flying pig of popular clich�.
  
  These are this year�s �winners.�
  
  The Pigasus Award in the Scientist Category goes to Houston biochemist and physician Stanislaw Burzynski, who sells expensive cancer cures by administering �antineoplastons,� costing his customers tens of thousands of dollars, and which have never been shown to be efficacious in controlled trials. His cancer therapy is not FDA approved. Despite his many customers to whom he sells his so-called �cancer cure,� he has never published the final results of a single clinical trial. The FDA has sent his clinic warning letters about their unsafe research methods and is currently investigating possible violations of rules meant to protect research subjects, including children.
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David Gorski, 19 Apr 2013 @ 1:28pm

A little background
At the risk of shameless link whoring, I think a discussion of a little bit of the background is in order, starting with a link to a discussion of the first Burzynski movie that Eric Merola made, back in 2010:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/stanislaw-burzynski-bad-medicine-a-bad-movie/

His second movie is no better, and apparently he's now letting his worship of Stanislaw Burzynski drive him to do nasty things like file dubious DMCA takedown notices:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/burzynski-cancer-is-a-serious-business-par t-2-like-the-first-burzynski-movie-only-more-so/
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 1:29pm

a company or person only uses threats when it has something to hide or is being portrayed as real bad unnecessarily. if all that is going on is some criticism, dispel it and move on!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 1:36pm

there's a special hell for people who scam cancer patients.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2013 @ 2:50pm
  
  Re:
  It's people like you that make me think to myself "thank god I'm an atheist" ;)
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  - Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2013 @ 4:38am
    
    Re: Re:
    The glorious Flying-Spaghetti-Monster-God shall swiftly strike you down for your blasphemous words.
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- That Anonymous Coward (profile), 19 Apr 2013 @ 9:14pm
  
  Re:
  is it called Texas?
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