Facebook’s latest folly, apart from ignoring complaints that its site does not display properly in Firefox on Vista, is preventing the uploading of videos—even when you have permission to do so.
   Almost immediately after a video is uploaded, Facebook deletes it, and posts a warning on your home page, threatening to kill your account if you put up copyrighted material. There’s no presumption of innocence here: it presumes you are guilty as the first step.
   And you can’t dispute it. There’s a link to submit a counter-notification but even if you fill it all out, Facebook will return the following screen:



You can keep signing this and submitting the counter-notification, but Facebook won’t accept it, claiming you haven’t filled in all the fields, and return you back to this screen.
   Don’t Americans have the common law principle of a presumption of innocence? Of course they do. Not that Facebook cares much about these ideals. We see, yet again, more of the arrogance that we have to put up with as Facebook users, earning money for the company by being exposed to its advertising.
   Facebook, if you don’t like hosting our videos any more due to the cost of buying new servers, just say so, rather than go around accusing innocent people of infringing copyrights and denying them the opportunity to defend themselves.

PS.: After countless tries since the writing of this post, Facebook has accepted one of these counter-notification forms and reinstated the second of two videos it deleted. I will revise my statement to say that Facebook makes it very difficult to file a counter-notification, certainly more than the layman is willing to put up with.—JY

P.PS.: The form concerning the second video remains linked from my home page, along with Facebook’s accusation, even though the video has been reinstated in my profile. There is no way to submit the form or to clear it. Thanks for making me feel like a crim, Facebook—even though you started it with the false accusations. (Incidentally, Facebook’s own IP section in its help pages say that it will only remove a video on the copyright owner’s complaint—but given that it is instant, and false, I doubt it is following its own stated rules, and prefers to be the playground bully.)—JY Posted by Jack Yan, 13:48  permalink

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