I can’t accurately speak bout DMCA and copyright in America, but I can speak toward the notion of fair use (and its cousin, fair dealing, as similar conventions are known in Canada, UK, NZ, etc). What was important in Copyright Acts was idea of creating a balance between the rights of the user and the rights-holder. I say “rights-holder” instead of creator, however, to note that the corporatization of the creative arts in the west long ago created a chasm between most creators and their works. Today, the balance between the user and the rights-holder is thrown off-kilter because of so much corporate control and heft.

This isn’t to say we need to tear down the structures that underpin western capitalism. But it is to suggest that our copyright laws, as they exist now, more accurately reflect the socio-economic culture of a different time period. To ignore the present reality of mashups, digitization, derivative and adaptive works, especially in the light of fair use legislation and policies is akin to shoving our heads in the sand.

And as for Google/YouTube takedown notices, it’s horrible, if not immoral, that Google Inc. has become an internet creative works traffic cop that consistently listens to only one side of the story. That intellectual property holders get to stifle the rights and privileges of the users through the threat of a civil lawsuit is a miscarriage of justice in itself.

Anyway, you may or may not agree. I may just be preaching to the converted here..