Are U.S. Figure Skating folks spying on this board?

[fiercemao]

I am so mad. I linked several youtube videos of grand prix events on this board. The videos are gone and several accounts have been shut down permanently.

I also linked an obsure novice skater's youtube videos, they are gone as well!!

I checked a couple of other obscure novice skaters' videos and they are still there!

Obviously the U.S. figure skating guys are SPYING on this board. These jerks! I hope they will face severe consequences.

 

[chuckm]

IceNetwork is an independent company which has been hired by USFS to manage results reporting, publicity and video broadcasting for USFS events. IceNetwork owns those videos and have a legal right to demand their removal from sites like Youtube.

You are breaking the law by uploading IceNetwork videos to Youtube, and if you continue to do so, you could be subject to prosecution.

 

[R.D.]

This can mean only one thing: YouTube links may have to be banned in the near future. But that's only my suggestion; the mods/admin have the final say.

 

[fiercemao]

This can mean only one thing: YouTube links may have to be banned in the near future. But that's only my suggestion; the mods/admin have the final say.

NO!

Almost all 'Cup of China' videos have been taken down. Those USF jerks! They need to be put in JAIL.

 

[Jaana]

IceNetwork is an independent company which has been hired by USFS to manage results reporting, publicity and video broadcasting for USFS events. IceNetwork owns those videos and have a legal right to demand their removal from sites like Youtube.

You are breaking the law by uploading IceNetwork videos to Youtube, and if you continue to do so, you could be subject to prosecution.

Well, I did not get the impression from the first message, that Fiercemao was the person who uploaded the videos? Fiercemao just posted links, as far as I understood? Anyway, GP competitions have been broadcasted in Europe as well and if video clips from those broadcasts have been put on youtube, that should not be IceNetworks business or should it? I have though understood that several video clips from other broadcasts have been removed from youtube as well.

 

[bekalc]

NO!

Almost all 'Cup of China' videos have been taken down. Those USF jerks! They need to be put in JAIL.

I suspect by the time Fierce is done everyone will be in jail, including himself.

 

[R.D.]

NO!

Almost all 'Cup of China' videos have been taken down. Those USF jerks! They need to be put in JAIL.

I assume your post is tongue in cheek and I don't need to say that they are completely authorized to request removal of those vids. However, if Youtube links to skating videos posted on this site are getting removed, then what's the use linking to them in the first place? That's why I suggested the ban (it would only apply to skating programs- anything else is ok). Then it could be implied that if anyone wants to check out vids of the events covered here, they can just go to Youtube by themselves and perform a search (takes less than a minute, people!) And I'm not even going to say that that will prevent those vids from getting removed. But it may make it less likely that it will happen.

I think ALL SA vids either have been removed or are in danger of being removed since the USFS is the host federation and is in charge of the video feed. However, I don't know about other GP broadcasts from non-US countries.

 

[fiercemao]

:, they can just go to Youtube by themselves and perform a search (takes less than a minute, people!)

I think ALL SA vids either have been removed or are in danger of being removed since the USFS is the host federation and is in charge of the video feed. However, I don't know about other GP broadcasts from non-US countries.

First of all, if your search keyword is not precise, the videos may not come up. In the future, video posters may take measures not to post any 'keyword' in order to battle the USFS jerks.

I did a search on 'Cup of China' videos, most have been taken down.

One proposal is for posters to send out private message to whoever whats the links in the future.

 

[R.D.]

One proposal is for posters to send out private message to whoever whats [sic] the links in the future.

Sounds good to me. But that still means a ban on posting the links publicly, hope you realize that.

 

[gsrossano]

IceNetwork is an independent company which has been hired by USFS to manage results reporting, publicity and video broadcasting for USFS events. IceNetwork owns those videos and have a legal right to demand their removal from sites like Youtube.

IceNetwork was created by USFSA and MLB, and is a partnership with MLB in which USFSA has a financial interest. Posting IceNetwork videos anywhere is a violation of their copyright; and as has been repeatedly demonstrated, they aggressively protect their copyright. Whenever YouTube gets a complaint that copyright protected material is posted it is going to come down.

IceNetwork cannot force YouTube to remove videos where IceNetwork does not own the copyright on a copyright infringement basis. However, IceNetwork also has exclusive Internet broadcast right to certain events. So if YouTube posts any video from one of those events, IceNetwork can claim YouTube is violating their broadcast rights and also force the videos to come down.

Under these circumstances, it would seem the only videos that can be legally posted on YouTube are those where the copyright holder gives permission (or videos that are in the public domain) and only from events where IceNetwork (or someone else) does not have the Internet broadcast rights.

Pushed to the limit, that means that mom and dad cannot post little Suzie's Regional video on the Internet because IceNetwork owns the Internet rights to USFSA qualifying competitions.

 

[museksk8r]

Well, I did not get the impression from the first message, that Fiercemao was the person who uploaded the videos? Fiercemao just posted links, as far as I understood? Anyway, GP competitions have been broadcasted in Europe as well and if video clips from those broadcasts have been put on youtube, that should not be IceNetworks business or should it? I have though understood that several video clips from other broadcasts have been removed from youtube as well.

I don't see how IceNetwork would legally be able to have links removed from Eurosport/Russian tv/etc. broadcasts. How can they when they don't own the rights? Should that ever happen, I hope the result is even more revenue loss for the USFSA. It would serve them right for being so greedy. What I don't understand is why doesn't the USFSA utilize youtube and such websites as a marketing tool to generate even more interest in figure skating. It's very likely attendance for USFSA events would increase if skating was better advertised to the public consumers. Pulling down youtube videos left and right is doing nothing but hurting them, IMO.

 

[Ginask8s]

I was thinking the same thing. Also, Icenetwork who wants the whole gig is doing an awful job of filming these skaters.

 

[R.D.]

I must agree. Even some of the record companies (!) are jumping aboard the "if you can't beat 'em, join' em" mentality by opening up official YouTube accounts and uploading music videos and other exclusive content on there. I seriously think the USFS (or Ice Network) should consider opening up an official YouTube account and showing maybe some of the videos that are available after free registration. Who knows, maybe it could even increase traffic to their site...?

 

[museksk8r]

I was thinking the same thing. Also, Icenetwork who wants the whole gig is doing an awful job of filming these skaters.

I know! Of all the skating forums I frequent, I see more negative response about Ice Network than I do positive. Reports are that the sound is dreadful and the camera work is extremely shabby and amateurish. I also hear many instances of fans writing the tech people and never getting a response to their problems. The percentage of folks experiencing blackouts and poor response from Ice Network computer techs is far greater than people I see who are satisfied with their Ice Network experience. If fans are going to be forced to pay to enjoy skating, then the Ice Network service needs a dramatic overhaul and needs to be improved, stat! Skating fans, the consumers, are feeling ripped off and it's not fair that Ice Network's consumers are experiencing such poor customer service.

 

[museksk8r]

Even some of the record companies (!) are jumping aboard the "if you can't beat 'em, join' em" mentality by opening up official YouTube accounts and uploading music videos and other exclusive content on there. I seriously think the USFS (or Ice Network) should consider opening up an official YouTube account and showing maybe some of the videos that are available after free registration. Who knows, maybe it could even increase traffic to their site...?

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!! :yes::agree:

 

[R.D.]

wow, I haven't had any major issues with Ice Network. The one time I had trouble with a log-on, I called them, spoke to someone who was semi-helpful but the most important thing is that the issue got resolved.

 

[Ginask8s]

I cant watch Icenetwork from my server AOL .It just wont let me. I have to go to another server. I miss seeing skating on my plasma tv. Watching from the computer stinks. ESPN did a really nice job last year. Also, I have had to wait for almost 30 min to get assistance from Icenetwork. I would rather watch You Tube at this point.

 

[PolymerBob]

Another trick that might work is to make the videos unsearchable.
Write "Kupp of Tchaina" rather than "Cup of China". Write "Karilynn Shang" rather than "Caroline Zhang". Nobody will be able to search these videos out and we can post all the links we like.

 

[dorispulaski]

Youtube.

Actually, a great many of the missing videos are due to youtube's banning of users who put up content that Icenetwork or whomever complained about.

When the user tripleaxel was banned, all of his/her videos, whether they were part of the complaint or not, disappeared, for example. This is true of several other big time youtubers who specialized in figure skating. Get a complaint about 2 or 3 of your vids, and poof, they are all gone, even the films of your little dog and your cute kids.

I'm going through my Previews and updating program links to replace dead links due to the banning. While all the Fraser/Lukanin links were broken and many of the Rubleva Shefer links, I only lost a couple others in the recent Ice Dance TEBC preview. BTW, I have now replaced the R/S & F/L links with valid links again. I doubt that the powers that be were particularly targeting the 3rd or 4th place Russians or the team from Azerbaijan. However, the youtuber who liked them as well as some bigger names got banned, and now it's all gone.

BTW, I don't use US links, in general. I use Canadian TV, Russian TV and Eurosport, if I can get it. CBC posts vids of its broadcasts on its own website and if they left them up longer, I'd use them more often. And Eurosport is available on line, as is CN8 and Orange and Daum. In general companies that are airing internet content for free are not complaining to youtube.

The issue isn't that the owner's of the content are complaining. The issue is that Icenetwork wants youtube to restrict certain videos from being shown in the US. And youtube doesn't really have that ability, so if you have anything at all bad, it just bans you, snip, snap, snup.



BTW, Japanese media area as likely to lodge TOS complaints as any other group. It's not all US TV or icenetwork.

It appears that someone has a job finding forbidden links at youtube. However, they are not very good at that job. They appear to search on well known US skaters or the phrase Skate America. Consequently, performances by skaters from other countries are easy to find, but there are relatively few vids for US skaters.

So if you find a broken link in a post of yours, just edit and replace.

BTW, if you are trying to find something on youtube, use the advanced search feature. It allows you to select videos uploaded within a range of time. Then use the names of a competitor in the event you are looking for. The odder the name and the more prominent the skater, the better. Then look at all the other uploads by that youtuber and that's where you'll find the rest of the event.

Then subscribe to that youtuber's videos. Chances are they will upload the next event you're interested in, or the next performance the skater they are interested in, either way.

Limiting access to just friends doesn't work. The existence of the video is still revealed on a search, just the average user can't view it.

Erratic spelling is not too useful-the people who want to find the info won't find it. Nor is Cyrillic spelling. Google does the transliteration just fine. Chinese or Korean characters are more safe. (It's darn hard finding either Chinese or Korean vids unless you just stumble on them).

My advice is to just use the names of the competitors and only upload US skaters if the performance is from an event like Liberty, which has a liberal camera policy. Or just upload to dailymotion instead of youtube. Youtube is well integrated into google, and a search will always preferentially find a youtube vid. Unfortunately, that makes it harder to find stuff on dailymotion than on youtube, but that's the price you pay.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

it's obvious. A marketing gimmick to get one to join icenetwork, and be sure to watch NBC.