[Tango-L] YouTube and the right to privacy

[Janis Kenyon]

Barbara Garvey wrote:
<I have a question about YouTube videos and copyright.  Having read the
copyright notice on the YouTube website it seems that no tango videos could
legitimately be posted, since they all involve copyrighted music. So does
one just ignore that?>

    You are one of very few who have even bothered to read the fine print
applying to YouTube.

<It seems to me that practice on YouTube is not consistent with the
guidelines -- any advice???>

    You are correct in that the copyright laws are ignored.  YouTube and
Goggle are merely releasing themselves from the possibility of litigation.
Everyone appearing on YouTube is supposed to give their consent, but how
many even know about it?

<Al and I have some great video footage of dancers not available elsewhere,
but of course it all involves music. Also, when a video is posted of a
couple dancing (in public, at a milonga or festival, for example) is their
permission obtained (always, sometimes, never?) We have clips of Lampazo and
Orlando Paiva, taken at our house, for example.>

    Filming is so commonplace these days in BsAs milongas.  People feel they
have the right to do it without asking permission.  Rick McGarry has been
secretly filming in the milongas for years and now has selected footage of
dancers on his website www.tangoandchaos.org   The dancers are unaware of
that fact because McGarry has never bothered to ask for their permission to
do so.  This is obvious when he posts videos of nameless individuals.
Miguel Angel Balbi thought I was the only one to have footage of him until I
informed him last week that McGarry has footage of him on the internet.
Ruben Harymbat was unaware that there are videos of his dancing on YouTube
by tangospring until I informed him.  They don't like it, but feel they
can't say or do anything about it.

<Is it okay to post a video taken at exhibitions at milongas? Is there a
time factor (10 years, 20, etc?). Some of our friends we know are/were very
sensitive to even showing their videos to strangers, so that we would
obviously honor.>

    It is correct to ask the dancers involved on an individual basis.  What
purpose does it serve?  I have footage of milongueros which was taken with
their permission and my promise that it would never be copied, distributed,
or sold.  The American attitude on YouTube shows disrespect toward those who
dance in Buenos Aires.  Every video on YouTube can be copied without the
consent of the person(s) involved.

<We also have video of performances at Nora's TangoWeek --we could email the
couples in question for permission to post, but there remains the music.>

    The milongas pay licensing fees to SADAIC for the right to play music.
It's impossible for them to track video production on the internet.  The
copyrighted music is being used without permission.

Tete and Sylvia commented on this topic in their interview at
www.tangonoticias.com

Tete: Daniel Trenner was after me for five years to make the videos, but he
didn't give me anything to make them.  He is a friend of mine, but at that
time, I was just dancing; I didn't want to teach classes.  After awhile, I
agreed.
...
So does it bother you that a lot of foreigners are filming in the milongas?
Tete: If that was my whole living, I wouldn't like it.  No, it doesn't
bother me.
Sylvia:  It does bother me.  It's an invasion of my privacy. There are
places where people say it's okay to film, but it's treating us like
animals, taking pictures of us all the time.