Hovind’s Goons use Fraud to Remove Critical YouTube Videos

The Panda's Thumb ^ | September 12, 2007 | Reed A. Cartwright

[antiRepublicrat]

From reports that we are getting, starting yesterday a user account on YouTube, called cseministry, began fraudulently claiming that any video which criticized the felon, cheat, liar, fraud, huckster, etc. Kent Hovind violated the copyrights of the Creation Science Evangelism.

Under the draconian DMCA, CSE can use such false claims to silence their critics, with little legal risk to themselves. Once a claim has been filed, YouTube is required by US Law to remove the content immediately and without any review. The real copyright holders then have to jump through hoops to get their content back on YouTube, that is assuming that they haven’t already been falsely banned.

Hovind’s critics have a strong case against CSE’s DMCA claims because CSE’s own website waived copyright: “None of the materials produced by Creation Science Evangelism are copyrighted, so feel free to copy those and distribute them freely.” That waiver appeared in the About Creation Science Evangelism page as recently as yesterday. It looks like they’ve scrubbed their site today, after this waiver was pointed out to them. Apparently, CSE is trying to retroactively remove their productions from the public domain. (They can’t legally do this, but has the Hovind Bunch ever acted within the law?)

But more infuriating to me is that several users have reported that CSE is claiming copyright to homegrown videos that contain no CSE content, and in many cases no content by anyone other than the YouTube user. They are issuing clearly fraudulent DMCA complaints to remove videos critical of their organization and the liar that ran (runs?) it. This type of behavior should land the rest of the Hovind Bunch in jail except that fraudulent infringement notices are not illegal under the DMCA.

[antiRepublicrat]

Apparently Kent Hovind and his crowd are sending fraudulent DMCA takedown notices to get things they don't like, such as public domain evidence of Hovind's criminal activity and material that Hovind put in the public domain, removed from YouTube by claiming copyright. This eventually led to the removal of the account of those posting the material. That's perjury folks, although that isn't something new to these people. Maybe Kent can get a couple of years tacked onto his sentence.

In the past I've noticed that this type of DMCA abuse often happens when people don't want their wrongdoings exposed.

[antiRepublicrat]

The Copyfraud ping: copyright, patent and trademark abuse, and general abuse of laws in the digital age.
If you want on or off the Copyfraud Ping List, Freepmail me.

[CRBDeuce]

ok, I’ll bite....what’s DMCA?

[Petronski]

Pathetic, really. This is going to turn right around and bite him in the ass. Fake DMCA takedown notices tend to have that effect.

[Petronski]

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

[Xenophon450]

Forget DMCA, who the hell is “Kent Hovind”.

[antiRepublicrat]

ok, I’ll bite....what’s DMCA?

Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It's a law pretty much purchased by the movie, music and TV industries, one of the worst passed in recent years. This aspect of the law allows the copyright holder of a work to simply send a letter to a company like YouTube and have any unauthorized copies of his work taken down. It's generally a good provision, as it avoids bunches of lawsuits, but it is very commonly abused to take down material that people don't like. It even happened to Michelle Malkin when she posted a video critical of an obscene rapper.

This gets asked a lot. I really need to save a stock answer somewhere.

[CRBDeuce]

ahhhh...the new Fairness Doctrine!

(yes I know it’s not the Fairness Doctrine for radio stations).

[trumandogz]

Kent Hovind is a whack-job Creationist who believes that man and dinosaur walked the earth at the same time just like on The Flintstones.

[Red_Devil 232]

"... who the hell is “Kent Hovind”?"

Good question!

[Xenophon450]

Ah thanks.

[Red_Devil 232]

(Oop-oop, oop, oop-oop)
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)

There's a man in the funny papers we all know
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He lived 'way back a long time ago
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He don't eat nothin' but a bear cat stew
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Well, this cat's name is-a Alley Oop
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)

(Alley Oop) He's the toughest man there is alive
(Alley Oop) Wearin' clothes from a wildcat's hide
(Alley Oop) He's the king of the jungle jive
(Look at that cave man go!!) (SCREAM)

(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He got a chauffeur that's a genuwine dinosawruh
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
And he can knuckle your head before you count to fawruh
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He got a big ugly club and a head fulla hairuh
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Like great big lions and grizzly bearuhs
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)

(Alley Oop) He's the toughest man there is alive
(Alley Oop) Wearin' clothes from a wildcat's hide
(Alley Oop) He's the king of the jungle jive
(Look at that cave man go!!) (SCREAM) (Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He rides thru the jungle tearin' limbs offa trees
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Knockin' great big monstahs dead on their knees
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
The cats don't bug him cuz they know bettah
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Cuz he's a mean motah scootah and a bad go-gettah
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)

(Alley Oop) He's the toughest man there is alive
(Alley Oop) Wearin' clothes from a wildcat's hide
(Alley Oop) He's the hullie-gullie king of jive
(Look at that cave man go!!) (SCREAM)

Thair he goes
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Look at that cave man go
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Ride, Daddy, ride
(Alley Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Hi-yo dinosawruh

[KeepUSfree]

There’s no such thing as “Creation Science”.

[rickdylan]

Maybe, but there’s nothing in the world with less claim to being “scientific” or anything like than than the theory of evolution.

[Valpal1]

except that fraudulent infringement notices are not illegal under the DMCA

Whoever wrote this does not seem to understand that the DMCA is civil law not criminal law and it does in fact allow for damages, costs and attorney fees to be recovered from persons making fraudulent rights claims.

The DMCA is a horribly written law in that it allows anyone to file a rights claim without providing a shred of evidence that they are indeed the actual rights holders.

The trick to putting a stop to fraudulent takedowns is not to file a counter claim, which is basically telling them to shut up or sue, but to sue them first.

See www dot tabberone dot com for examples of someone who has brought multiple major coporations to their knees for making fraudulent DMCA rights claims against her.

[Coyoteman]

Maybe, but there’s nothing in the world with less claim to being “scientific” or anything like than [sic] than the theory of evolution.

Then why is creation "science" trying to emulate it?

[Chode]

[PAR35]

Have you cross posted on Darwin Central?

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks for posting that...Get Fuzzy is my favorite comic strip...but where is Satchel?

[Chode]

he'll prolly be back in the next scene.

http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/