Disney Is Making Damn Sure That None Of You Watch An Unauthorized Version Of Samuel L. Jackson Reading 'Stay The Fuck At Home'

from the copyright-yo-psa dept

Lots of famous folks have been making (often amusing) "Stay Home" public service announcements. One great one showed up last week, in which Samuel L. Jackson read a copy of a new "poem" by Adam Mansbach, the author (a decade ago) of the infamous Go the Fuck to Sleep. This time, it was Stay the Fuck at Home. As with the original, Mansbach wrote it, and they got Samuel L. Jackson to read it -- though it debuted on the Jimmy Kimmel show (filmed with everyone at home, of course). You can see it embedded below (hopefully starting at the right part):

As you can see, this was in the middle of a much longer clip from the show (an interview of Jackson by Kimmel). Many, many people snipped out just the reading and posted versions of it to Twitter and YouTube. In fact, the first version I spotted was a tweeted version that only had about half of the reading. A bunch of versions showed up on YouTube as well... and, of course, Disney had to step in and shut that shit right down with a copyright takedown (ht to Plainsite, who first spotted this).

While there was some confusion as to how Disney held the copyright on this, it's because it was originally aired on Jimmy Kimmel's show which is on ABC, which is owned by Disney. So, pretty straightforward, and you might argue, a legitimate use of copyright. The clip's copyright is held by Disney, and so it's not a bogus takedown.

But that doesn't make it smart. After all, the whole damn point of this is to make it be seen by as many people as possible. That's the nature of a Public Service Announcement. And the Kimmel clip buried the reading in the middle, whereas many people making clipped versions of it made it that much easier for people to see it. And, I should remind you, the whole damn reason that the original Go the Fuck to Sleep became popular in the first place was because of "piracy" sharing the original around (oh, and also, the original artwork was done without licensing some of the artwork).

But, hey, it's the middle of a pandemic and Disney's going to Disney everything up, I guess.

Filed Under: copyright, covid-19, jimmy kimmel, psa, samuel l. jackson, stay the fuck at home, takedowns
Companies: disney

Russian PSA: Quit It With The Selfies If You Want To Live

from the in-mother-russia-selfie-takes-you dept

The global war on selfies continues on. The first salvo was launched here in America, with many institutions banning selfie sticks for any number of reasons (mostly safety). But our inoculation has failed and the scourge of the selfie has spread to Mother Russia, infecting the youth there at what is apparently insane levels, considering some of the suggestions in this Russian pamphlet detailing how not to die for a sweet selfie.

Now, I don't speak Russian, so I'm relying on the pictures and some translation work done by Gawker here, but the lesson I'm learning from this message from the Russian government is that the Russian people are awesome. Are there, for instance, Russians popping wheelies on their boats while taking selfies? Are they regularly reaching out to pet Siberian tigers with a camera phone in their other hand? Are they train dodging while selfie-ing?!? If so, the Russian youth are exactly my kind of awesome.

The Russian government, of course, disagrees.

That warning comes after a string of recent selfie-related accidents. In May, a 21-year-old woman accidentally shot herself in the head in Moscow while taking a selfie holding a pistol. She suffered injuries but survived. In January, two young men died in the Urals while taking a selfie holding a hand grenade with the pin pulled out. The mobile phone with the selfie survived as a record. In May, a teenager in the Ryazan region died while attempting to photograph himself as he climbed on a railway bridge and accidentally came into contact with live electrical wires.

“Unfortunately we have noted recently that the number of accidents caused by lovers of self-photography is constantly increasing,” said Yelena Alexeyeva, an aide to the interior minister. “Since the beginning of the year we are talking about some hundred cases of injuries for sure.”

And apparently the cure for the Russian selfie scourge is bland government pamphlets that include such memorably punchy lines as, "A selfie in the street? You may catch more than clicks", and, "Selfie on the roof -- it'll be a high fall." If these are the best tools we have in the war on the selfie, it's probably just better that we all admit defeat and embrace the sweet death that will come upon us soon. The only question now is how to get a sweet selfie of myself dying from getting a sweet selfie?

Filed Under: psa, russia, selfies

Sony Execs Freaked Out That Its Marketing People Wanted To Use Torrents For Marketing

from the how-dare-you-embrace-new-technology? dept

The decision of whether or not to embrace or fight innovation is such a weird one at times. It leads to such ridiculous choices. It's no secret that the big movie studios have decided that things like BitTorrent are evil and must be shunned at all costs -- even as plenty of successful creators have learned how to embrace the technology in ways that helps them make money in ways that weren't possible before. But, if you've staked your entire corporate position on the idea that BitTorrent technology is pure evil, then you can never, ever even try to embrace it and see if you can actually use it to your advantage.

Witness this bizarre email thread, in which Sony's top execs completely freak out over the idea that some other Sony folks are considering ways to use torrents for promotional purposes. It started with some Sony folks in Europe, who had the idea of putting up fake torrents of the TV show "Hannibal" that would (at first) include a short portion of the show, and then would tell downloaders to watch the show on TV. But Sony bosses in LA put the kibosh on this plan:

Personally, I love this and this it is a great promotion – unfortunately, however, the studio position is that we absolutely cannot post content (even promos) on torrent sites. The studio spends millions of dollars fighting piracy and it doesn’t send a good message if we then start using those same pirate sites to promote our shows.

Well, first of all, it's not a "great promotion" because people have tried putting up similar fake torrents for ages, and it tends to just piss people off. There's a reason they're downloading it rather than watching it on TV and telling them to just watch it on TV probably doesn't help anyone. It just pisses them off. But let's leave that aside for a minute.

The folks on the TV side at Sony tried again. They thought, instead of a "promotion" for the TV, how about just a "public service announcement" (PSA) about how unauthorized downloads are bad. This is also a pretty dumb idea that has been tried for over a decade and generally just leads to mockery. So it likely wouldn't be that effective, but Sony top execs got even more worried that even using torrents for PSAs would somehow legitimize BitTorrent, and Sony cannot allow that to happen.

I called Paula and restated that this is simply a long road to “no” because it so severely undercuts our efforts not only in CE, but all we have accomplished elsewhere (and that could be compromised by making the distinction between bad & good sites more gray)… Forget about a site blocking strategy if we start putting legitimate PSAs or promos on sites we’ve flagged to governments as having no legitimate purpose other than theft… PSAs being for public good, etc…

Elsewhere in the email thread, Sony Pictures' top lawyer Aimee Wolfson notes that "this is a highly problematic idea":

This is a highly problematic idea. Even with a PSA message, it will be easy for the pirate sites to cite it as (a) lawful activity on their site, and (b) an attempt to promote the show. (Note that the attached script is definitely promotional, and responds to the pirate viewer’s activity with a knowing and conspiratorial “wink” – not the message we would want to send.)

Meanwhile, the Sony TV and marketing people keep pushing for this idea, with Sony TV boss Steve Mosko saying "this is really important to me" and others recognizing that this is a "clever" idea, considering that the European team has "no budget."

In some ways, this is so incredibly shortsighted. Here Sony is so committed to the idea that torrents can't be shown to have any legal, non-infringing uses (even though there are plenty), that it won't even allow its own staff to experiment with ways to use the new technology to their own advantage. But just the admission in the email alone shows that Sony's top execs know damn well that there are legitimate, non-infringing, uses for BitTorrent, and they're deliberately trying not to use them just to make BitTorrent look much worse than it is.

Sony's focus is so blinded by "Piracy bad! Piracy bad!" that it can't even consider "Hey, this technology might be helpful." Once again, I'm reminded of how Jack Valenti declared in 1982 that "the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." Except, at least back then Hollywood wasn't so stupid as to not embrace the VCR. Just four years after Valenti claimed that the VCR would kill the American film industry, in 1986, VCR revenue for the movie industry surpassed box office revenue. The Hollywood of the 1980s fought technology, but at least it learned how to use it to its own advantage. Apparently the Hollywood of today is so committed to hating on technology that it will give up the new markets enabled by it.

Filed Under: bittorrent, hannibal, marketing, promotions, psa, sony emails
Companies: sony

Microsoft Releases Utterly Bizarre And Confusing Anti-Piracy Video

from the fear,-uncertainty-and-disorder dept

Boo! You didn't see me there, did you? That's because I'm one insidious sonofabitch. My name's piracy, and I'm everywhere. I will do things like disguise myself as a photocopier and infiltrate your business via identity theft. Or, umm, something. Here, I'll let this dramatic PSA from Microsoft fail to explain it to you:

Understand? No? Good! We want you confused and bewildered! If you're not careful, I will steal your external hard drives and stalk your attractive female employees. I even contribute to littering. And I do it all to the ominous notes of pizzicato strings, like Elmer Fudd hunting wabbits. Learn more at Microsoft's anti-piracy website, which is so poorly designed as to look like a knockoff itself—that is, if I don't run off with your computer first. Muahahaha! Piracy!

Filed Under: fud, piracy, psa, software
Companies: microsoft

Press Realizing That ICE May Be Breaking The Law Showing NBC Universal Propaganda Films On Domains It Seized

from the oops dept

Over the last year or so, we've been one of the few publications out there following the exceptionally questionable use of NBC propaganda material by the federal government as if it were its own content. You may recall that NBC Universal created some propaganda "anti-piracy" PSAs for New York City, in which actor/comedian Tom Pappa claims "there's no such thing as a free movie." The irony that he's saying so while appearing on a free YouTube video stream is apparently totally lost on him.

A few months later, the same video, minus references to NYC, appeared on the YouTube page of the Immigrations & Customs Enforcement group ICE (part of Homeland Security). No reference was made to the fact that the video was created by NBC Universal. A few weeks later, these videos started appearing on domains that ICE had seized, and then forfeited.

After filing a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, we found out that the videos were property of NBC Universal -- something that ICE (to this day) refuses to disclose. Further FOIA requests turned up no records of ICE ever properly licensing the video.

Already, this should be exceptionally troubling. ICE running corporate propaganda without any disclosure? And doing so on websites it had seized under questionable legality?

Turns out the story gets even worse. Jeff Roberts over at PaidContent notes that, under civil forfeiture procedures, the federal government must sell or destroy forfeited property. It cannot keep it and use it for itself. It does not appear to be legal to make use of the property for other purposes -- and certainly not for spreading corporate propaganda without disclosure.

The article also points out, quite reasonably, that it seems odd that ICE is using these videos -- which present a ridiculously inaccurate and one-sided argument that "piracy" is taking away movie industry jobs -- on web sites seized & forfeited for trademark violations. That seems extra weird. The sites have nothing to do with downloading movies, as the video discusses. And do the big brand companies that urged ICE to seize these domains to "protect their trademarks" really feel comfortable with the federal government now running NBC Universal propaganda on those domains instead?

Filed Under: forfeiture, government, ice, psa, seizure

Announcing Contest Winners!

from the giving-away-cash dept

As you may recall, over the last couple months we ran two separate contests, in which we are giving away $11,000 in $1,000 chunks. Today we're announcing all the winners. The first was our PSA contest, where we asked people to create short PSA videos about the impact of technology on creativity. For that one, congrats to Joshua Rodriguez, who made an entertaining video that actually lays out both the "pro" and "con" arguments for how infringement is impacting creativity: Nicely done -- even if I don't personally agree with all of the arguments, that was kinda the point of the contest. Unlike NBC Universal's similar contest (which was officially put on by New York City), we didn't want to give people a preset talking point. We wanted people to be creative on their own, and Joshua did a great job.

The second contest was for submitting case studies on our new Step2 platform for helping people create "success models." Somewhat surprisingly, we didn't even get submissions in every category, so we're giving $1,000 each to the overall 10 best case studies that got submitted -- per user voting. Here's the list in order of user votes:

1. Can transparency give fans a reason to buy?: Andy Richard's great discussion showing how being more transparent with revenue details with his fans seemed to give fans more of a reason to buy.
2. Cucumbers & Gin - a film of a violin piece: Kevin Clark's story about using Kickstarter to finance a music video also explained how success is judged in more ways than just money.
3. Does making your pond smaller work to make you a bigger fish?: Zoe Keating's explanation of "what's worked for her" in building up such a huge fanbase and a truly "DIY" success story as an independent musician.
4. What are some infinite goods that a maker of physical objects could give away?: Kyle Clements flips the equation for us a bit, and tries to get people thinking about infinite goods that can be used to promote the kind of physical artwork he does.
5. Married Man Sex Life: The Marketing Plan: Author Athol Kay discusses the marketing strategy for his book, and then goes on in the comments to give us play by play updates as he experiments and tries different pricing strategies.
6. Kickstarter: Does It Even Matter What You Sell?: Amanda Palmer's case study about the success of her Kickstarter campaign, in which she notes that true fans will figure out ways to support you, no matter what you sell.
7. Building Your Film's Fanbase... The Hard Way: Will Robertson's discussion of how he and others hustled their way around the country promoting and showing the horror film they made.
8. Bodies on the Floor: Improving Show Attendence: Matthew Bile's excellent case study on how his band was able to build their fan base and get more people out to their shows.
9. Social-Networking Do's and Don't's...know your fans to keep your fans!: Katey Laruel's discussion of how to connect (and how not to connect) with fans via social networking.
10. Ways to grow a non-artistic content provider Michael Lato discusses his series of YouTube videos for DIY home construction projects.

If you're on this list and haven't heard from us already, you will soon... Thanks to everyone for participating, and there's lots more going on over at Step2, and plenty more on the way...

Filed Under: business models, case studies, contest, psa, step2

Reminder: Create A PSA About The Impact Of Technology On Creativity And You Can Win $1,000

from the step-on-up dept

As you may remember, NBC Universal via New York City, is running a contest trying to get NYC school children to create anti-piracy public service announcement (PSA) propaganda videos. In exchange for that, they're giving the "winner" $500... but also taking their copyright. We think it's a bit ironic that a contest where you're forced to only talk about how great copyright is also forces you to give up your copyright.

Anyway, thanks to some generous Techdirt readers (and a matching grant from us directly), we're offering our own contest and the deadline is rapidly approaching. You've basically got a week left. We're looking for the PSAs to be about the impact of technology on creativity. We're not giving you talking points, or even a specific view you have to take. Unlike NBC Universal and New York City, we trust you to make your own arguments, not regurgitate what you've been handed. We're also offering twice the amount of money they are... and we don't force you to give up your copyright. So, step on up. Details of how to enter can be found here.

Filed Under: culture, nyc, psa, technology
Companies: nbc universal

DailyDirt: Video Challenges

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Do you have a video camera and untapped creative juices? There are more and more outlets for uploading your videos, and there are even people willing to pay you for your contributions. Here are just a few open video contests out there.

• Create your own Public Service Announcement on how technology has made an impact on creativity. There's a $1000 prize available, and it's due on October 28th, 2011. (Oh yeah, and you can keep the copyright to your submissions for this one because we're sponsoring it!) [url]
• The USDA has a Fruits&Veggies contest looking for a 30-second video on how to add more plants to your diet. The first prize is $1500, and the submission period ends November 15, 2011. [url]
• Submit a video on the theme of Unlikely Innovation here. The winner receives $5000, and it's due on December 30, 2011. [url]
• To find other interesting links for entrepreneurial folks, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

Filed Under: challenges, creativity, prizes, psa, video contests
Companies: innocentive, usda

Did ICE 'Pirate' Its Anti-Piracy PSA?

from the where's-the-licensing-agreement? dept

As you may recall, earlier this year Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) group proudly announced that it had started placing a video "public service announcement" (PSA) on all of the domains that it had forfeited (without any trial) from those it accused of violating intellectual property laws. The PSA they used was interesting for a variety of reasons. It involved actor/comedian Tom Papa, telling people on the streets of New York that getting a movie for free meant a boom operator would be out of work. The first thing that was interesting... was that it appeared to be almost identical to a video that was part of a New York City anti-piracy campaign. At least the feds made one small edit that took out the totally false claim that "there's no such thing as a free movie."

So, we were wondering, if the feds were really so concerned about getting actors paid... just how much did they pay Tom Papa and the boom mic operator for their appearance in the video. Did they pay anything? After all, rather than actually hiring actors and paying them, all ICE did was "copy" someone else's video. So, we asked PR people at ICE and in the NYC government... and got back nothing. Seemed odd.

So, then we filed some freedom of information act requests. Our request to NYC turned up the information that the videos were owned by NBC Universal. This was also odd. After all, nowhere does the federal government say that the videos are property of NBC Universal. You would think that when the federal government is running propaganda videos created by a private company, the least they could do is acknowledge where they came from. But, still, even if they were owned by NBC Universal, was the federal government (and our taxpayer dollars) paying these actors?

My first FOIA request to ICE was sent back saying there were no responsive documents. That seemed odd. Did ICE not license the video? We filed a second FOIA request that was even more specific to make sure... and while ICE initially sent back a "no responsive documents" response, they later admitted that was in error and sent back ten pages. But those ten pages show nothing about any licensing info. Instead, they include a press release bragging about the PSA getting 100,000 views, and some emails related to that press release. You can see that embedded below.

So, at this point, we're still left wondering: did ICE license the video at all? Or did they "pirate" it? After all, in the original version of this video, Tom Papa clearly states, "there's no such thing as a free movie." Yet, ICE can't seem to find any paperwork at all to show that they properly licensed the PSA or that they paid for it or any of the actors appearing in it. And given the way ICE has been leaping to conclusions about "piracy" on the websites they seize, I think I've provided ICE with much more courtesy to prove that they weren't violating anyone's copyright here than ICE does with the sites they seize.

So, I think it's fair to say that a reasonable person could conclude that, yes, ICE "pirated" it's anti-piracy PSA -- and until they show proof that they properly licensed it, this should be the working assumption. So, uh, when does ICE seize ICE's domain?

As you ponder that, don't forget that NBC Universal is working on making its next round of propaganda PSA's that will be "pirated" by the government, and doing so by getting schoolchildren to repeat talking points. In response, we're running a counter-contest, in which we're asking people to create videos about how creativity is impacted by technology. Unlike the propaganda campaign, we're not giving you the talking points (we believe you can think and speak for yourself). Also, unlike their campaign we don't take your copyright. Oh yeah, and we're offering more money.

Filed Under: homeland security, ice, licensing, psa, tom papa

Is Talking About The Beatles As A Wonderful 'Shared Experience' Really Wise In An Anti-Piracy PSA?

from the this-promo-also-seems-to-be-anti-beard,-but-maybe-that's-just-me dept

Music Matters has just released the latest in its string of anti-piracy PSAs, most of which feature recording artists explaining how music has affected their lives. This one features some excellent animation, along with a nice selection of tracks, and it details one person's lifelong relationship with the Beatles' music. It closes by stating that loving a band is a shared experience that brings many people together. All in all, it's a well done tribute that John Lennon certainly would have approved.



Of course, it's tough to watch this promo, which celebrates "sharing" music, without feeling a bit like you're being beaten over the head with an extremely heavy irony stick wielded by someone who has no idea how hard they're swinging it. For starters, Unnamed Protagonist states that he first heard the Beatles' music when it "floated through his window." As picturesque as this scenario may be, the end result will most likely be dismayed gasps from the BMIs and the ASCAPs of the world, who hate to see a public performance go unpunished.

In fact, the video seems to be making the opposite point of the one it's intended to make. It shows just how important sharing is to make culture culture. You've got really mixed messages here. The Beatles are a shared experience, but sharing it with others outside of the way they want you to share it is bad -- even as the (nameless) person profiled clearly enjoys the Beatles in his own way. Like hearing it through the window. Or out in the street with his evicted belongings. Or surrounded by friends in an unlicensed open air venue.

On top of that, the Beatles seem like a really odd choice for such a PSA.

Whatever level a person's love for the Beatles might be, it's pretty tough to find much reciprocation from the band itself, which spent most of the last decade making sure that the only digital copies of their music available were illegal copies. The band also spent a fair amount of time shooting down licensing requests and otherwise making their catalog about as approachable as a badger covered in live hand grenades.

Between the Beatles' "yes, we love you, too but only through very selective channels" and Music Matters' "music is a good thing but only through selective channels," the whole idea of music being a communal experience, one that relies on sharing, kind of gets lost. Even worse, because this is a Music Matters promo aimed at reducing piracy, the message shifts from "Music matters because it's shared," to "Don't share music because, together, we can keep music from mattering."

Filed Under: beatles, culture, piracy, psa, sharing
Companies: music matters