[Infowarrior] - MySpace Kills Internet Tube Song

[Richard Forno]

MySpace Kills Internet Tube Song
>From Wired News, July 14, 2006
By Ryan Singel
http://www.freepress.net/news/print.php?id=16521

After hearing Sen. Ted Stevens¹ now infamous description of the internet as
a ³series of tubes,² Andrew Raff sang the senator¹s words over a folksy
ditty and anonymously posted it to MySpace.com, where about 2,500 people
listened to the tune, thanks to a link from one of the net¹s top blogs.

On Tuesday, MySpace canceled the TedStevensFanClub account, telling Raff
that the social-networking site, now owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch¹s
News Corp., had received a ³credible complaint of your violation of the
MySpace Terms of Services.²

(Editor¹s note: MySpace reinstated Raff¹s account Thursday afternoon
following publication of this story. The company says Raff¹s account was
deleted in error.)

The cancellation e-mail referenced a number of prohibited activities,
including trademark and copyright violations. MySpace also reserves the
right to remove any profile for any reason.

But Raff, a recent graduate from law school, didn¹t violate any copyright
laws in using the Alaskan senator¹s words, since government works cannot be
protected by copyright. And Raff composed the music himself.

Raff doesn¹t contest MySpace¹s right to enforce its terms of service, but he
sees a political lesson in the takedown ‹ a foreshadowing of the kind of
repression of speech that could become commonplace if phone companies
prevail in their efforts to create a two-tiered internet. In an e-mail
interview, he also questioned MySpace¹s motives in removing his political
commentary from the site.

³I¹m not at all upset about MySpace taking the page down ‹ just curious as
to why,² he wrote. ³I have yet to receive a reply to my inquiry as to why
this account was deletedŠ. I am very curious about the reasons why they took
this down ‹ if it is a case of extreme caution with regards to copyright or
whether it is the result of some other influence (perhaps even good taste).²

Art Brodsky, communications director for Public Knowledge, questioned the
timing of the takedown, noting that News Corp. has interests in the
telecommunications bill put forth by the Senate Commerce Committee that
Stevens heads, and that some in Congress are looking to regulate MySpace
over concerns about pedophiles.

³Of all the God-knows-how-many separate postings on MySpace, this one was
singled out,² Brodsky said. ³You can¹t fill out an online form to get
something deleted; somebody had to make a specific call on that specific
song. Given all that has been happening with Stevens ‹ he was on The Daily
Show last night and all the writing we have been doing ‹ I just have a very
skeptical view of coincidence.²

MySpace¹s PR firm said it would look into the matter.

Public Knowledge, a nonprofit that has been fighting against the broadcast
flag and for net neutrality, originally posted the recording of Stevens¹
odd, and technically inaccurate, explanation of why he was voting against
net neutrality.

After a Wired News blog published a transcript of his remarks, they became a
sensation over the long July 4 weekend, spawning hundreds of blog posts and
comments at sites such as digg and Slashdot, and inspiring netizens to make
T-shirts, PowerPoint presentations and songs lampooning the senator¹s
assertion that the ³internet isn¹t a truck Š it¹s a series of tubes.²

The internet tube meme hit the big time when comedian Jon Stewart aired the
audio on The Daily Show Wednesday night, complete with a helpful diagram
illustrating how a tube-based internet might work.