With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube
So if I understand this correctly...<p><i>YouTube</i> took these videos down based on a copyright (DMCA?) claim. Which of course isn't a court ruling or anything.<p>At the same time, no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected. (Otherwise shows like <i>Saturday Night Live</i> couldn't even exist.)<p>After all, the end result is no different from a really good vocal impersonator. In fact, a really good impersonator will definitely do better.<p>It's disappointing that Jay-Z (or more likely some lawyer working for him) is abusing YouTube's takedown mechanism this way.<p>But at the same time, I can see how this could seem particularly scary for a performer. After all, if you've spent decades creating a recognizable profitable persona... the idea that anybody with a personal computer can flood YouTube with fake lyrics that aren't yours could feel terrifyingly like losing control of everything you've built.<p>What if some really nasty stuff went viral and became as associated with Jay-Z as the rest of his stuff? Stuff that did serious damage to his brand, which "nobody could unhear"?<p>I genuinely wonder if deepfake technology will actually result in new copyright restriction law. I.e. to make it a crime to produce unlicensed deepfakes that are genuinely indistinguishable to the average person, regardless of whether they're parody or not. (While "bad" parodies like <i>SNL</i> will continue to be protected as always.)<p>I kind of feel like that's going to have to be the outcome at some point in the near future -- in fact, as soon as really convincing yet nasty deepfakes of senators and representatives start making the rounds and spreading on Facebook, I suspect a new law will get passed <i>incredibly</i> quickly.