On copyright and ethics
As illustrated by this post by Matt Schwartz the uploading of copyrighted material to video sharing site Vimeo has recently become an issue. YouTube has begun cracking down on users illegally uploading copyrighted material (spoken in a pretentious voice while I watch music videos on YouTube). As a result the offending users have begun migrating to Vimeo.
Vimeo is not Youtube. Vimeo users do not appreciate this flood of copyrighted material forcing its way into their community. The site has strong policy of “If you didn’t make it, don’t upload it”. This reflects a fundamental difference between the ethics of Vimeo and Youtube users. Youtube users (with some exceptions) see nothing wrong with the uploading of copyrighted content.
Vimeo users on the other hand tend to be web-savvy creatives who are very protective of their community. To them the illegal uploading of copyrighted content is highly unethical.
It’s easy to empathise (not sympathise) with those who support the uploading of illegal content. Youtube is my first stop when I want to listen to a song I don’t own.
Although I can see why it’s desirable to have copyrighted content uploaded I can’t see any motivation for any particular user (14 year old girl?) to upload such content. Piracy advocates who follow the thinking of Richard Stallman/The Pirate Bay wouldn’t bother with a site like Vimeo, preferring to stick to torrents. Why would you bother uploading High School Musical clips to Vimeo?
I believe artists have a right to profit from their work and I think Richard Stallman is a fool. I side with Vimeo users on this one.
