I was going to write something profound and deep tonight about the takedown of Legal Insurrection’s YouTube account after the Modern Language Association filed three (3) copyright claims with YouTube relating to my coverage of the arguments made at an MLA annual meeting town hall in favor and against the academic boycott of Israel.
*Perhaps* it was total *coincidence* that three (3) claims were filed considering that YouTube has a well-known three strikes rule — three claims and they may remove your channel and account. Which is what happened even before I knew there was a copyright claim by MLA (it never contacted us).
*Eventually* we’ll find out *why* three (3) claims were filed. I sure hope people are not deleting emails, that would look really bad.
We do know that the group leading the anti-Israel boycott effort had complained to MLA that MLA posted the full 2 hours audio on YouTube, and was upset with our excerpts used in our reporting.
They even complained that our posting excerpts of what some people actually said was harassment (seriously).
That fits a pattern — the anti-Israel BDS academics hate, hate, hate, hate when you quote what they say, and what better way to prove what they said than an audio or video.
This all took me by surprise. I was looking at a post on Legal Insurrection sometime in the evening Thursday night, and noticed a video was not loading (leaving a grayish, shadowy image of a YouTube screen). I clicked on the grayish “play” symbol and text appeared stating that the account associated with the video had been terminated because of multiple claims of copyright infringement. It took about 1 second and then I realized, wait a second, that’s OUR account! That’s how I found out.
I clicked over to our YouTube Channel and saw this:
To say my stomach sank is an understatement. This was not something I ever wanted to see considering that our YouTube channel contained over 200 videos accumulated over 8 years, including my many speeches, original video reporting, video compilations we created, video obtained after much litigation and court order, and ‘fair use’ excerpts of other reporting.
We managed to get the account restored Friday night.
Major thanks are owed to “our attorney” Ron Coleman who was immediately available to me Thursday night for consultation, to the many readers who reached out offering to help, to the readers and social media users who took it on their own initiative to complain to YouTube, to the Twitter brigade which quickly moved into action (too many people to mention), and to the media which brought this into the public spotlight, including Fox News (linked by Drudge), Instapundit, The Washington Times, Breitbart News, The Blaze, The Free Beacon, and others in the blogosphere who spread the links.
This so much reminded me of the *old days* when conservative people/blogs/media were able to swarm in support of a colleague in need. All I can say is, thanks.
So yes, I will have a lot more to say about this. And it will be profound and deep.
But the Patriots are playing tonight, and it’s Saturday night, so this is not necessarily the best time for profound and deep thoughts.
I spent much of today downloading over 200 videos from our recently restored YouTube channel, and uploading them to another service for safekeeping, in case we’re hit with unjustified copyright complaints by someone else who just happens, by complete *coincidence*, to file three (3) claims triggering the YouTube three strike rule, just *by chance* and without any *malice* aforethought.
As I went through that process, I realized just how many great videos we had, and how much would have been lost had we not been able to recover the account.
So, considering this is Saturday night and the Patriots are playing, the most profound and deep thoughts I have are to compile a listicle of my 20 Favorite Videos from our YouTube account that almost disappeared from the internet. This is not necessarily a measure of which videos had the most views or had some other intrinsic news or other value. I’m also excluding interviews of me and speeches by me, because the last thing I would want you to think is that I like hearing myself talk.
So this is just a listicle of the videos I *favorite* at this moment in the history of the world and of Legal Insurrection.
In reverse order:
Creepy uncle Joe. Never stop being you. On second thought, stop being you.
Remember, SHE is the victim.
Probably the most impact we’ve ever had in a congressional race was our coverage of the NY-23 race in 2014 between Tom Reed and Martha Robertson.
Oh, to be in Jerusalem on Jerusalem Day.
Thugs.
(language warning)
This guy tried to get this taken down from YouTube because it violated his privacy! We won that fight, and it remains on YouTube.
(language warning)
When all else is failing in your life, protest against a guy who criticized yoga pants.
Well-deserved Kudos from Don West for Andrew Branca.
Bullies. But it didn’t work.
What deranged anti-Israel protest is complete without a fake Gandhi quote?
Epic, but she eventually saw the light and realized the error of her anti-Israel ways.
I said I wouldn’t pick any videos of me talking about myself. This is not ME talking about me.
And this is who Dems want to run the world? For pure comedy gold, this made the list.
Heartbreaking. At every level.
We crammed the Case Against Elizabeth Warren into one video.
The Greatest Generation, indeed.
I love this video. Thanks Anne Sorock for being you.
It took a year of litigation, but we got it. Sickos manipulating little kids.
A must watch. Reminds me of that Norman Rockwell painting.
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