Here’s a copy of the actual demand letter YouTube sent YouTubers who’d posted Colbert Report, Daily Show, or South Park footage to YouTube. Got this via Idealog. It has a copyright notice on it…wonder what they’ll do to me. If I don’t post in 48 hours, call the cops…no, call the UN. Note also that it was removed simply on receipt of the complaint, not after investigation of the complaint. Looks like Gawker‘s (and mine! and Christopher Walken’s Mother‘s) boring YouTube Cassandrizing is starting to manifest.

YouTube

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Comedy Central claiming that this material is infringing:

Stephen Colbert Interviews Steve Wozniak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-whFuN0S0M

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, to be effective it must be a written communication provided to our designated agent that includes substantially the following (please consult your legal counsel or see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g)(3) to confirm these requirements):

(A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.

(B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.

(C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.

(D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriberis address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection©(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

Such written notice should be sent to our designated agent as follows:

DMCA Complaints

YouTube, Inc.

1000 Cherry Ave.

Second Floor

San Bruno, CA 94066

Email: copyright@youtube.com

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,

YouTube, Inc.

Copyright © 2006 YouTube, Inc.

Who am I kidding? I live in CANADA and I’m mourning.

They killed Kenny.

It’s true. Newscloud (via Boingboing) reports that the worst has happened. Civilian observers in the war against big media report 15256 casualties as a result of Comedy Central’s strike against YouTube.

• 2546 of the dead are Daily Shows
• 2038 are Colbert Reports
• and, in a stunning slaughter unmatched since Israel’s strike on Lebanon, a staggering 10672 of the losses came from the small community of South Park.

now, the report from the front lines:

…a third party (probably attorneys for Comedy Central) had made a DMCA request to take down Colbert Report and Daily Show clips. If you visit YouTube, all Daily Show, Colbert Report and South Park clips now show “This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.”

For a long time, Comedy Central has passively allowed the sharing of online clips of its shows—because let’s face it, it’s helped them generate the kind of water cooler talk that has made them a ton of money. 

Even Stevphens, we hardly knew ye. (oopsie, this one’s still kicking: watch it while you can)