3 Count: DMCA Bloodbath

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1: Twitch Streamers are Getting DMCA Takedown Notices (Again)

First off today, Bijan Stephen at The Verge reports that Twitch has sent out a series of emails informing users that their videos have been the subject of DMCA takedown notices and has removed the allegedly infringing material.

Details of the story are sparse as the notice from Twitch does not identify who sent the DMCA notices. Instead, it only says that the user’s channel was subject to “one or more of these DMCA takedown notifications” and that the material has been deleted. Twitch went on to say that they are not giving an option to file a counter-notification or otherwise resolve the issue. That said, they were clear they are not banning the accounts involved and are instead giving a one-time warning so that the user has “a chance to learn about copyright law and the tools available to manage the content on your channel.”

This is not the first time Twitch has faced a flurry of DMCA notices. Back in June, music rightsholders sent a “tidal wave” of DMCA notices against users that resulted in the silencing and removal of a slew of videos. This time, however, Twitch is handling the process much differently though it is unclear if it would do so should there be yet another wave.

2: Clive Palmer Claimed He Was ‘Composer’ of Lyrics in Twisted Sister Row

Next up today, Michaela Whitbourn at The Sydney Morning Herald reports that, as the case between Dee Snider, the former frontman of the band Twisted Sister, and Australian politician Clive Palmer has taken another strange turn as Palmer admitted it was misleading for him to claim he was a “composer” of the Twisted Sister song We’re Not Gonna Take It.

The case was prompted when Parker used a cover of that song in a series of political ads during the 2019 Australian elections. The case has since gone to a trial with Universal Music, the copyright holder in the song, taking the lead as the plaintiff.

However, it’s been revealed that, in the early days of the dispute, Palmer and his party claimed to be “composers” of the song since they had written parody lyrics for it. This prompted a sharp response from Universal, which also learned that the party had decided it was better to “pay damage slater if necessary” than stop the use of the song.

3: There’s a Hidden ‘Proxy War’ Between YouTube and Stream Rippers

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that, even as millions of people use stream rippers to illegally download videos and music from YouTube, the video-sharing site is trying to fight against it but appears to be losing the battle.

According to the report, YouTube has a long history of sending cease-and-desist letters to such stream rippers. While short on actual legal consequences, they do ask the sites to comply with the YouTube terms of service. However, since last summer, that has escalated into YouTube taking active countermeasures to block such sites including blocking IP addresses used by them.

However, the stream rippers have simply responded by using a large number of proxies to spread out the traffic and get around any blocked proxies. They further say that efforts to delist them in search engines have largely failed with most sites finding it trivial to move to new URLs.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

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