The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) struck another blow for video bloggers this week by defending the fair use rights of political pundit Michelle Malkin (a frequent guest on The O’Reilly Factor). Earlier this month Malkin posted an episode of her video podcast “Hot Air” on YouTube criticizing Universal Music Group rapper Akon, using snippets of his performances to illustrate her points.
UMG immediately swooped in and issued a take down notice, prompting YouTube to comply and remove the offending video. That’s when the EFF stepped in and helped Malkin form a counter notice asserting her legal fair use rights. Once the notice went out to all parties involved UMG backed off. The video is now back up on YouTube, and Malkin is once again free to bloviate to her heart's discontent.
