With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube
So if I understand this correctly...YouTube took these videos down based on a copyright (DMCA?) claim. Which of course isn't a court ruling or anything.At the same time, no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected. (Otherwise shows like Saturday Night Live couldn't even exist.)After all, the end result is no different from a really good vocal impersonator. In fact, a really good impersonator will definitely do better.It's disappointing that Jay-Z (or more likely some lawyer working for him) is abusing YouTube's takedown mechanism this way.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.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"?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 SNL will continue to be protected as always.)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 incredibly quickly.