There's Been No Videos of Substance, So Let's Talk Fair Use

February is almost over and it's been a dead month for Chris. Only three videos. Granted, it's a leap year and he could post something tomorrow, but we will see (he might read this and do so). Outside of the shitty app I talked about in the last post, the other two videos were about, surprise surprise, toys. Lego Dimensions Wave 3 and Minecraft action figures. Both videos were the same, he shows the packages, he unboxes them, and says they're really cool. There's some stupid stuff, like saying the Cyberman from Doctor Who "obviously" rides the Dalek like a vehicle (even though that never happened, could have rephrased that differently) but most of all they are boring. No wonder his subs stagnate or go down in big numbers when a new video comes out.

Soooo, let's talk about Fair Use. If you haven't been paying attention, the YouTube community has launched into a new campaign called "Where's the Fair Use" or #WTFU. Started by Doug "The Nostalgia Critic" Walker, various YouTube users are making videos and posts wanting YouTube to change their copyright policies. Altering their draconian ID bots, fixing the monetization system, and most of all actually helping users that felt they were wronged. Doug himself recounted how his channel could not receive revenue for 23 days thanks to a copyright strike, and the people at YouTube would do nothing about it. Only when he made a video and brought it to people's attention that they restored their monetization. But this only convinced him to start the campaign. Several people came forward in support. I Hate Everything, YourMovieSucks, Boogie2988, Jim Sterling, AlphaOmegaSin, GradeAUnderA, Markiplier, Ross "RubberNinja" O'Donovan, SFDebris, TeamFourStar, and so many more. The movement has gained enough traction that YouTube's CEO noticed it (though it's likely she won't do anything outside of "Yeah I hear you whatever")

What does any of this have to do with Chris Bores?
I'm curious how much Chris suffers from YouTube's terrible policies and ID bots. He never brings it up, and with all the copyrighted material he randomly uses, I have to imagine there's been several issues. Then again, this is the man that willingly kept copyrighted Power Rangers footage on a DVD he sells for profit. See this is where Fair Use can get a bit muddy. Many of the above people use the footage for commentary or criticism, but even they know not to put their material on DVD unless given permission or it's public domain. Chris was not using the PR footage for commentary or criticism, but to pretend to fight a robot like an episode of the show. He didn't add anything to it, he just used it because he was too lazy to make his own robot costume. Not to mention the Back to the Future footage waaaaaay back in the first season. He claims he got permission, but I don't believe him.

You'd think Chris would take this opportunity to address his own problems with YouTube, because I have to imagine he has them. If he leaves his bubble for one minute, and actually addresses this very real issue, I'll gain a tiny sliver of respect for him. Chances are he won't do it. He ignores pretty much everything unless it involves making James Rolfe look bad.