Has the end begun?

[owlmoose]

Browsing Tumblr last night, I came across my first image takedown notice.

Now, this might not be a sign of doom. Tumblr has always had a route by which you could report unauthorized use of copyrighted work. But in two years on the site, I have never before seen an image removed icon -- for a second I thought it was a remote host error or something, before I remembered that such a thing would make no sense on Tumblr -- so of course my thoughts go to the Yahoo acquisition. Which, as it happens, closed today. Coincidence, or is this the canary in the coal mine? Only time will tell.

It's been awhile since anything I posted on Tumblr got this many notes, and it's been interesting to watch the evolution of the reblogs. Some of the commentary has been disbelieving, others have been alarmed, but the one that catches my eye the most is the "but hey, at least now there's a way for us to report people who repost our art instead of reblogging it" reaction. Does anyone really think that Yahoo's top priority is going to be taking down unsourced fanart? No, the most likely target is images and video copyrighted to major media IP holders, and if that starts happening en mass, you can forget Tumblr as a viable fandom platform.

Not jumping ship yet; this isn't meant to sound the alarm. But you can bet that I will be keeping a very close eye out for more of these.

Comments

[stealth_noodle]

IT BEGINS. :(

Didn't the Yahoo acquisition officially go through today? I hope that's not related.

[owlmoose]

It did, in fact. I think it's probably coincidence? Especially since I saw that image last night. But yeah, it was a sobering moment when I saw the acquisition was final.

[zen_monk]

I wonder if this affects media from different regions? Since it'll most definitely be targeting North American works, I wonder if it'll target properties outside of the US and Canada? Maybe British media, too.

[owlmoose]

Yeah, the international copyright questions are always interesting. If they do start doing targeted takedowns, I have to imagine it would start with the US and the UK, but who knows? I guess it all depends on which, if any, media companies are agitating for it. One would hope that most of the major media companies have learned that they benefit from the free publicity, but they've had trouble with that lesson before...

[zen_monk]

Just watch: something new or new-ish would be released sometime this year and become super internet popular. Then the company that made starts noticing things like memes and gifs and fan videos and decide that this is "new internet piracy" and try to pull it away from the internet.

"We need to put a price on things, dammit!" would be their slogan or catchphrase of the day.

Meanwhile, people across the pond are slowly getting that idea too, and all the Whovians and Sherlock people would riot online somehow. More actual piracy would happen.

And anime and manga gets left alone because this thing has been going on since the 80s.

*wanders in from network*

[recessional]

If it helps, I saw my first one months ago, significantly before the purchase.

Re: *wanders in from network*

[owlmoose]

It is useful to know, yeah, although it doesn't alleviate my worries entirely. Presumably Tumblr has always had a takedown policy, and sometimes things get caught by it. I mostly worry that the acquisition makes the site higher-profile and therefore more likely to attract the notice of big media copyright holders.

[sarasa_cat]

hm. I read some of the reblog comments your post received, including the comment about someone seeing an image takedown notice in the middle of a gif set.

Hard to say what any of this means right now beyond the availability of the tumblr support email address to report copyright violations.

I suspect that the parent companies of the fandoms I'm most active in see their fans as useful (free/viral marketing) but this does mean that tumblr posts of, say, unofficially leaked bioware marketing surveys could be targeted for take down, which has already happened on other websites. (Of course, if I worked as one of bioware's marketing/user research team members, I would want the ability to get such image posts removed, but this steps into a very different, complex matter about what "journalism" means in the web 2.0 age).

Anyhow, image takedowns could be as a potential slippery slope, but not clear yet what is going on. I guess what happens next is up to Tumblr's and Yahoo's leadership ... or complex redefinitions of 'fair use" in the digital age.

Wait and see?

[owlmoose]

Wait and see, indeed. This doesn't really change anything in the short term, at least not for me, and I also doubt that most of my fandoms will see wide scale impacts (Marvel is my biggest worry, since they're owned by Disney, and Disney is so notorious about cracking down on even the smallest IP violations).

[sarasa_cat]

I had no idea that Marvel is owned by Disney. :C

[owlmoose]

Yeah, that acquisition went through a couple of years ago. That's partly why they've had the resources to do a project as ambitious as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[lassarina]

Interesting. It'd also be fascinating to see how this affects very specific fandoms in our sphere (i.e. Final Fantasy vs. Kingdom Hearts, because of the Disney factor with the latter.)

[owlmoose]

For sure, although I can't recall any issues with Disney going after KH fandom in the past -- do you know of any? Still, I agree, the risk is definitely higher, especially with a new game coming out.

[lassarina]

I don't, but I also am not really in KH fandom. I sort of watch it go by, read things that are recommended, and largely stay the hell away because damn it puts every other fandom I have to shame with shenaniganry.