Computing blogger banished from YouTube

YouTube deactivated an entire user account based on an erroneous copyright infringement

A Computing blogger has had several hundred videos wiped from his YouTube account after a dispute over footage he posted of an audience at a stand-up comedy show.

Mark Kobayashi-Hillary's video of an audience waiting for comedian Jimmy Carr to come on stage was considered to be a copyright infringement by Intelligent Conversation, the firm monitoring social media activity about Carr.

Subsequently Kobayashi-Hillary’s entire collection of more than 900 videos was taken offline.

Intelligent Conversation scans YouTube, Blinkx, Vimeo and other sites daily for footage filmed both before and during the comedian’s shows.

“Whilst we are happy to recognise that ‘free is good’, filming shows spoils it for everyone else and also completely nullifies the effect of the jokes: for music fans, songs can be played again and again, but once you've heard a joke it totally loses its impact the second time around,” a company representative said in an email to Kobayashi-Hillary.

The representative added that his firm's action in this case could be seen to be over the top.

“Although I appreciate this might seem overzealous, it's the only way we can stop footage being spread,” he said.

After numerous attempts by the blogger to contact YouTube’s owner Google, the web giant finally responded with an email earlier today. It states that Kobayashi-Hillary had two other complaints of copyright breach filed against him - both for videos that have since been removed - which has raised the question of whether web site maintains a ‘3 strikes and you’re out’ policy.

“I use YouTube as a business tool – it is an invaluable component of my corporate work. It is just outrageous that [Google] can arbitrarily remove the entire account based on an erroneous copyright infringement,” Kobayashi-Hillary said.

It is not yet known whether, or when the user’s account will be reactivated and if its previously uploaded content will be restored.

Google UK did not respond to calls for comment.