Today I went to a funeral. The departed was a man who had
collapsed suddenly two weeks ago at the age of seventy. He passed away quickly
at his home without suffering. I did not consider him a close friend, but he
was somebody I liked and he was family of sorts; meaning he was my daughter's
uncle by marriage. He had been married for thirty-five years to her maternal aunt. The
couple had four children and five grandchildren. The ceremony was short and
sweet, in the chapel of a local crematorium. There was a printed order of
service and it said that at the end there would be some "music of
reflection". This was to be the anthem of Oxford United FC, My Oh My, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLbL4ecuDhM.
The deceased was a big "U's" fan and we were all asked to wear OUFC
hats and scarves at the service. Then as the vicar took to the pulpit he
announced that he would not be able to play My
Oh My because of "copyright issues" to do with YouTube. Instead
we would have Jerry and the Pacemakers' You'll
Never Walk Alone, which is a lovely song; however, it is the equivalent for
Liverpool . It's obvious that the vicar made this replacement
at the last minute. The mourners all gasped in dismay and confusion. I've run
out of words when it comes to my contempt for Silicon Valley .
They are now so wrapped up in bureaucratic technicalities that any pretence at humanity
has vanished. They refuse to sign Section 230 and declare themselves to be a
platform and not a publisher, therefore making the user legally responsible for
content. Why? So they can maintain a pretext for censorship. They have
deliberately neglected their duty to add some nuance to their copyright
protection policy by ignoring fair use provisions and just simply not acting
like dickheads! They have AI technology capable of overlooking a video being
played at a funeral, but they refuse to use it. They would rather keep wielding
their copyright bots like the blunt instruments they were in the 1990's. One
day they will pay, not just for their informational tyranny but also for their
cruelty and thoughtlessness.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2024/09/video-banned-12.html.
And: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2022/12/silent-night-watch-party-livestream_27.html.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2024/09/video-banned-12.html.
And: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2022/12/silent-night-watch-party-livestream_27.html.
2 comments:
Hi Ben, condolences on the loss of the family member despite not being close to you. I've had a parent pass away recently and other close family members aren't in the best of health so expect I'll be attending funerals in the future again. As regards the changing of the song choice due to copyright are you sure the Vicar wasn't a Liverpool fan! As a football supporter myself I would be rising from the dead and throwing the coffin lid off if that happened at my funeral... In all seriousness though I'm not convinced this is a You Tube technocracy gone mad at the expense of common sense thing. Music at funerals is subject to copyright law whether recorded or played live. The person arranging the funeral needs to obtain a licence and most reputable funeral directors can advise on this. Normally the license is held by the premises owner (such as the Vicar). In this case they may have had one for the Liverpool Anthem therefore could play that albeit a little inappropriate imho. I wonder if when I leave the earthly plane I could request some spurious choices of songs to annoy the Vicar (AC/DC Highway to hell springs to mind!)
Thanks, FC and sorry to hear about your own losses. I'm sure there is some regulation about playing music at funerals, I do not doubt; my point was, however, that such regulations should be relaxed for the sake of compassion. The choice you would make about that infernal road from that all electric Aussie band is a good one; and, believe it or not! THAT is the exact song he chose. He always had a sense of humour and even the vicar was laughing.
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