Sitting in class on Tuesday I pleasantly welcomed the daily delivery of the paper by the messengers as my class was working nicely and I thought I might have a moment or two to skim the headlines. You cannot imagine my surprise, horror and sheer panic when I noticed that I, yes, little old insignificant me, had sparked a national debate. My U2 video was smack bang on the cover of the Sydney Morning Herald!
Gasp! was the only response I could give as I nearly fell off my chair. The headline read, "Hold those phones, rockers, soon your recordings will be a crime," and underneath the picture of fans taking happy snaps of Bono was my video (GULP) with a caption stating Arresting image...fan video of the same show already on YouTube.com. My audible gasp alarmed the class who were most distracted by my reaction and thus neither the students or the teacher could concentrate for the rest of the lesson. I barely had the composure to read the word "soon" in the headline and was sure I was to spend the rest of my days behind bars. All I could think of was "what kind of an example have I been to the children!?"
The staff room was greatly amused by my infamy and my dad has been collecting as many copies of the paper as he can - for me to distribute to my friends! It seems that someone at the Herald noticed my little YouTube videos of the U2 concert and thought it would be a great time to discuss the new laws which Mr Howard is wanting to rush through parliament pertaining to copyright and piracy, and my videos were an example of the kind of activity that may result in heavy fines, and possibly gaol time!, in the future.
Apparently, under these new laws, it may even be illegal to upload a video of somone singing Happy Birthday as the Happy Birthday song is not public domain! I was so tempted to record myself singing Happy Birthday to a member of U2 and upload that, just for fun, but I thought it better not to flirt with danger. It is a little ridiculous to try to police the singing of Happy Birthday, I think, and most other people do too. Imagine the trouble you could get into if you recorded U2 singing Happy Birthday and uploaded that to the internet! That's asking for double trouble.
This little issue has now been discussed on the evening news, on breakfast television, on the radio (so people have told me) and at HSC marking centres in Sydney. Apparently I am set to become a case study in Legal Studies classrooms regarding what happens when laws change. The news has even been in Melbourne papers. Apparently, my videos are not illegal - yet. There is no law stating I cannot record a public performance on my phone and upload it to YouTube. U2 could possibly prosecute re breach of copyright but since Bono was encouraging people to take photos of him throughout the concert, I don't think that is likely.
To be sure, I have removed my videos and do not plan on posting them again. I don't usually like to be made an example of, especially when it is because I am engaging in potentially illegal activities, so I think removing the video is for the best. I have decided instead to burn copies to cd and distribute them at a small cost to interested persons, or perhaps not! My dad reckons that while I have a bright future ahead, I should probably hold onto that.
Gasp! was the only response I could give as I nearly fell off my chair. The headline read, "Hold those phones, rockers, soon your recordings will be a crime," and underneath the picture of fans taking happy snaps of Bono was my video (GULP) with a caption stating Arresting image...fan video of the same show already on YouTube.com. My audible gasp alarmed the class who were most distracted by my reaction and thus neither the students or the teacher could concentrate for the rest of the lesson. I barely had the composure to read the word "soon" in the headline and was sure I was to spend the rest of my days behind bars. All I could think of was "what kind of an example have I been to the children!?"
The staff room was greatly amused by my infamy and my dad has been collecting as many copies of the paper as he can - for me to distribute to my friends! It seems that someone at the Herald noticed my little YouTube videos of the U2 concert and thought it would be a great time to discuss the new laws which Mr Howard is wanting to rush through parliament pertaining to copyright and piracy, and my videos were an example of the kind of activity that may result in heavy fines, and possibly gaol time!, in the future.
Apparently, under these new laws, it may even be illegal to upload a video of somone singing Happy Birthday as the Happy Birthday song is not public domain! I was so tempted to record myself singing Happy Birthday to a member of U2 and upload that, just for fun, but I thought it better not to flirt with danger. It is a little ridiculous to try to police the singing of Happy Birthday, I think, and most other people do too. Imagine the trouble you could get into if you recorded U2 singing Happy Birthday and uploaded that to the internet! That's asking for double trouble.
This little issue has now been discussed on the evening news, on breakfast television, on the radio (so people have told me) and at HSC marking centres in Sydney. Apparently I am set to become a case study in Legal Studies classrooms regarding what happens when laws change. The news has even been in Melbourne papers. Apparently, my videos are not illegal - yet. There is no law stating I cannot record a public performance on my phone and upload it to YouTube. U2 could possibly prosecute re breach of copyright but since Bono was encouraging people to take photos of him throughout the concert, I don't think that is likely.
To be sure, I have removed my videos and do not plan on posting them again. I don't usually like to be made an example of, especially when it is because I am engaging in potentially illegal activities, so I think removing the video is for the best. I have decided instead to burn copies to cd and distribute them at a small cost to interested persons, or perhaps not! My dad reckons that while I have a bright future ahead, I should probably hold onto that.
posted by missmellifluous at 12:13 pm
8 Comments:
Oh my! I had no idea you were such a shady character.
And I hope this doesn't count as your 15 minutes of fame.
I had no idea I was such a shady character either! And I, too, hope I become insanely famous for doing something wonderful rather than doing something naughty. Oh, the shame!
I always have embarassing 15 minutes of fame. When I was a little girl I was pulled up on stage and hugged by Fat Cat because I was singing well and he wanted to see my Cabbage Patch doll. I blushed when Fat Cat hugged me. Who wants to be hugged by a Fat Cat when everyone is watching? My moments of fame are always so embarrassing.
How funny eh? It was nice to share a little spot on the cover with you :)
I think moments of fame tend to be embarrassing to those concerned.
I have to say that, whilst I enjoyed your videos, and I'm really glad I stopped by whilst they were here, there was a part of me that was thinking, "Er, are these supposed to be here?" And I wondered whether they had disappeared due to an official complaint or not ....
Still, no harm done, I guess.
I wondered what happened! I came back here at a decent hour the next day and watched the first one and then came back later to watch the next one and found it gone. It crossed my mind that U2 had asked you to remove it, as I have heard of such things happening.
Wow! Famous and all that!
You famous woman you! And to think we get to say we all know you! :-)
I can only imagine how shocking that really must have been! YIKES!!
cool, now I have another infamous friend ;) Must have been a shock!
Thanks to all of you for still having the courage to comment on my blog and befriend me despite my almost-criminal activity.
From now on, if anyone wants to see my U2 videos I'll have to send you a copy. What are they going to do, transport me to a far away island for it?..oh, hang on, they already did that, many years ago, which is why I find myself filming U2 in Australia instead of Ireland to begin with.
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