One From the Vault

05-21-2008 | 08:27 PM EST

Ever wonder why some videos on YouTube are here today and gone tomorrow? Well, there are several possible reasons, but the one that an MIT student group is taking exception with has to do with copyright-related takedowns. Don't worry though, their new website is breathing life back into the fallen clips.

YouTomb is a product of the MIT Free Culture student group that, according to their website, seeks to track "videos taken down from YouTube for alleged copyright violation." And, by track, they also mean make available for viewing on the YouTomb website.

Officially, a footer on the website explains:

YouTomb is a research project of MIT Free Culture. The purpose of the project is to investigate what kind of videos are subject to takedown notices due to allegations of copyright infringement with particular emphasis on those for which the takedown may be mistaken. Although our initial focus is on videos hosted by YouTube, we are interested in other video collections as well.

When you consider how easily an individual content producer can be intimidated by a takedown or cease and desist letter (even when no real infringement has taken place) and how easily a perfectly legitimate movie clip could get misidentified and removed by YouTube's automated copyright-infringement filters, I think it's great that this group is doing something to publicly comment on the process and the rate of false positives.

Since I started this blog I've come to realize how much the threat of legal action alone can stifle perfectly legitimate creativity. Likewise, heavy-handed, broad technological solutions can do an equal amount of damage through dragnet-like policies. But, whether you agree that the current copyright system in the United States needs a massive overhaul, minor tweak, or no change at all, it would seem to me that if you truly come down on the side of a healthy and creative society, you'd have to agree that using threats to stifle innovation and art are a very bad thing. I hope more people start watching this new watchdog.

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