I'm flattered. I guess.

How do you know that people are reading your blog? When you put up a rambling post that contains fifteen links, and six hours later you get this in your mailbox:


YouTube

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by WVIZ/PBS claiming that this material is infringing:

Take the Money: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2INbW9YGkU


'Take the Money' was the 30 second video I made condensing David Goodman's speech on getting rid of campaign contribution limits (because politicians can't really be corrupted like people seem to think) into a series of sound-bites, juxtaposed with text about Tom Noe, Bob Taft, Bob Ney, and Jack Abramoff. The only link to it that existed was one of the 15 links in that post.

I had thought about giving up on my Goodman Ad project when ProgressOhio took down their Noe ad, but I was miffed. The Republican Party had completely blown off a similar request, with no apparent ill effects. Was WVIZ seeking an injunction? Not that I had heard. Will they? Who knows. I could try and get myself worked back up into a righteous IOKIYAR tizzy, but this really isn't the battle I want to pick. I want the OhioChannel to defend their copyright. But I can't make them do it. I tried. I failed. There's an election in less than 30 days. I've got better things to spend my time on than publicizing a Republican attack ad from a race about which I've got little else to say. So that's it. If you saw the proto-ad and enjoyed it, great. If you saw the proto-ad and freaked out, great. If you saw the proto-ad and were sincerely concerned about the integrity of intellectual property in the digital age, I apologize. If you weren't among those who saw it before it went down, there's a speech by David Goodman on the floor of the Ohio Senate on the afternoon of December 17, 2004. The Ohio Channel has provided video of this session, in two segments. Approximately one hour and twelve minutes into that segment, Mr. Goodman starts speaking. If you listen to all eight minutes, the ads just start writing themselves. I'll let you get there on your own.

One last thing. WVIZ/PBS didn't contact me directly to discuss the issue or let me voluntarily take the videos off of YouTube. What are the odds that it is in part because they have no idea who I am, that they still don't know this blog exists, and that they received the URL of the video in an email? Pretty good, I'd say. Who do you think sent it? These are my last hundred hits (1 visit = 1%):

It could have been any one of these, I guess. Whoever you are, you took time out of your busy day to protect Ohio from my handiwork.

I'm flattered. I guess.