Re: Domino's YouTube Nightmare - Videos are Forever

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Paul Levy" <plevy () citizen org>
Date: April 16, 2009 4:31:22 PM EDT
To: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Domino's YouTube Nightmare - Videos are Forever

The oddity of the DMCA takedown is that it was presented by one of the
employees, presumably to limit her exposure to libel damages (and
obloquy).  I take it that someone OTHER than the employee who made it
found it and posted it; if the employee herself had posted it, she would
not have needed to invoke the DMCA to take it down.  I have blogged
about the DMCA implications here:
http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2009/04/using-the-dmca-to-remove-a-video-because-it-is-embarrassing.html


On viewing the video, my reaction (other than feeling bad for Domino's
for the slur on their brand, which is not a feeling easily invoked in
me) was that there is an important aspect of the story that the public
reaction has thus far ignored.  The employees make a point of commenting
that their manager "is unaware . . . because she is back in the back
reading the newspaper, like always, while we are out here, clowning
around, putting snot in people's food.”   THAT part of the video may
well have been true; and the implication that many  Domino's staff hate
their jobs, hate their managers, and hate their employer may well be
true.  Although the Times story links to the Domino's response, I did
not notice any part of the response addressing THAT part of the video

Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation

> > > David Farber <dave () farber net> 4/16/2009 3:53 PM >>>


Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: April 16, 2009 3:27:17 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Domino's YouTube Nightmare - Videos are Forever



                Domino's YouTube Nightmare - Videos are Forever

                  http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000547.html


Greetings.  When some moronic Domino's Pizza employees shot videos of
themselves doing mostly unmentionable things to pizza ingredients,
then the results ended up on YouTube, the giant pizza chain was
launched into a public relations nightmare of truly deep dish
proportions
( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/business/media/16dominos.html ).

What's notable for us isn't the disgusting antics themselves, or the
question of whether or not the "modified" food products ever actually
went out to customers.  What's really interesting is yet another
example of the immense asymmetric impact that such videos can have,
and their rapid dissemination around the world, despite a version of
the video being pulled from YouTube after a copyright (!) claim by one
of the perpetrators (I do find this particular instance of DMCA
invocation to be rather amusing).

However, the videos in their various nauseating incarnations are still
widely available all over the Net, and I dare say will remain so in
perpetuity.  If you haven't had a meal recently and your masochistic
streak is showing, a quick Google Search for:

 dominos pizza video

and exploration of the resulting links will keep you in stitches -- or
some sort of altered mental state -- for quite some time.  This isn't
for the squeamish, though.

There's no obvious way that Domino's could have prevented this
situation, and they're clearly the victims in the drama.

But the take home lesson here is that the raw power of YouTube, other
video sites, and the web of e-mail and social networking applications
that now seemingly entwine everything, are fundamentally changing our
foundational concepts of privacy, information control, intellectual
property, and so much more.  Pine as some might for the "good old
days," the Internet has changed the world, and woe to he who ignores
or refuses to accept this fact.

What toppings did you want on that pizza again?

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - h
ttp://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
  for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: LW1




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