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    Hagee:  Get My Videos Off YouTube!

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    Here’s a little more from the article:

    “My guess is that videos [that] Hagee’s people think are the most damaging are the ones they targeted,” said Bruce Wilson, who first highlighted Hagee’s claim that the Holocaust was God’s means of hastening the apocalypse by driving the Jews to Palestine. “Clearly, the conference at the end of July and the fact that Lieberman is going to be there also played a role. That’s my guess. They certainly don’t want people to see the more controversial stuff.”

    Public relations officials for John Hagee Ministries denied foul play. Noting that several mainstream video clips—including one from Hagee’s speech at AIPAC—were removed from YouTube as well, they also dismissed the notion that lawyers to the pastor were suppressing news or undermining free speech.

    “Any material that was produced for John Hagee Ministries or Christian United for Israel was deemed to be a copyright infringement was taken down,” said Juda Engelmayer, a spokesman from the firm 5WPR. “Anything that showed John Hagee giving a sermon - because he films and markets those as well - were taken down because they were considered copyright infringements.”

    You can read the whole article here...

    What do you think?  Should Hagee’s lawyers have made this request?  Should a public figure’s words (especially a pastor’s) be taken down off of YouTube?  What would be the motivation?

    According to the Huffington Post, late last week, with no prior notification, lawyers for the controversial evangelist John Hagee had a series of videos concerning the pastor removed from YouTube. The clips spanned from the contentious to the mundane; some included footage lifted from sermons Hagee had already made public, others involved documentaries made by filmmakers inside Hagee's conventions. All told more than 120 videos were taken down in the abrupt sweep.

    The timing was, perhaps, more peculiar than the move itself. Clips that had been online for well over a year were now being subjected to "third-party" copyright infringement claims. And while Hagee had not been in the mainstream press since he and Sen. John McCain ended their official relationship a month prior, Hagee's Christians United for Israel annual summit is just days away, and at least one prominent McCain backer (Sen. Joseph Lieberman) is set to be in attendance.

    Comments

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    1. Sam on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Not just Hagee. Rick Warren had his youtube video of his controversial trip in 2006 to Syria pulled as well after Warren claimed he didnt make any videos of the trip.


      Looks like spin control to me with Hagee.

    2. Todd Rhoades on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Sam,


      I missed that news report… do you have a link?


      Thanks,


      Todd

    3. Peter Hamm on Wed, July 09, 2008

      I don’t want anybody putting up any YouTube video of me either.


      I can’t believe I’m saying this… but I’m with Haggee on this one (but not, I think, on most everything else…)

    4. Leonard on Wed, July 09, 2008

      if it were me on there it would be eeeewwwwtube.

    5. Joe on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Anyone who preaches the Word of God should not fear it appearing ANYWHERE.


      To remove sermons from the largest platform for sharing them ever invented just boggles the mind.


      Just another example of the unholy alliance between politics and religion, IMHO.

    6. Peter Hamm on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Joe,


      I agree with Hagee for perhaps different reasons that he has issue with these videos. It’s a copyright issue. People who post stuff on Youtube generally do not own the copyright to do so. It’s a violation of copyright law. I’d like to have some control over my creative output and how it gets to people. (For instance, let’s say I perform a concert and my performance is really bad one night and that’s the video that ends up on YouTube?)


      Hagee might indeed have bad reasons for demanding this stuff be removed, but his legal right is, imho, unquestionable.


      Unholy alliance between politics and religion? I might agree with you on that, but the copyright issue stands. (I guess it’s two separate semi-unrelated issues)

    7. sam on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Yes, here you go:


      http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53171


      http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=6603


      http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1744418/posts


      http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1746966/posts


      This was all spin control when Warren received criticism for his visit with Syria and meeting with Syria’s president.


      My contention remains that i think that Hagee and others have videos pulled from you tube because of spin and damage control

    8. CS on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Peter:


      Delving into the legality of this, much of the utilization of videos like those of Hagee is in the form of education, informational, and review purposes that fall under “Fair Use” portions of the United States copyright laws.  As long as the clips are of “reasonable” length and the intent is not to profit from them, but to do news fuctions in bringing something to the public eye, generally the law is on the side of the person putting up the content.


      The catch is that YouTube has a history of buckling in and caving when pressure from lawyers is being applied, even for secular information (check the history of Disney clips, for instance).  If anyone so much as threatens litigation, YouTube’s general policy is to yank the content.



      CS

    9. Eric on Wed, July 09, 2008

      They didn’t take this one down and it’s probably one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. 


      - “Jesus did not come to be the messiah.”


      - “Jesus refused to be the messiah.”


      http://youtube.com/watch?v=m8khCJTDD44


      I’m no Ingrid but I’m not so sure you can deny Jesus as the messiah and still be on the right team…

    10. DanielR on Wed, July 09, 2008

      I found several references to a Nov. 2006 trip Warren made to Syria where he made some comments that seem to be ill-informed and ill-advised and could be interpreted as being supportive of the Syrian dictatorship.  Apparently there was briefly a video of some of the comments on youtube before it was removed.  These references were on reputable websites like; World Net Daily, deceptioninthechurch, crooksandliars, the watchers lamp, and The Marsian Chronicles.  Reputable, one and all.


      I can’t find any reference from youtube about it though.


      While looking into this I also found out that Rick Warren is apparently a member of the ‘Illuminati”, a member of the “Masonic Council on Foreign Affairs”, and a leader of a satanic New World Order cult.  Sounds like RW has been keeping pretty busy.  http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/wink.gif

    11. sam on Wed, July 09, 2008

      DanielR,


      Apparently, Warren does find WND reputable because he dialogues with Joseph Farah and in June his article on Warren’s PEACE plan was published in June:


      http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65944


      Regardless, it doesnt change the fact that Warren or his “spin doctor”. Oh, i am sorry, Warren’s PR man had his syria video pulled from youtube because it contradicted what Warren had initially said and made him look like he was being dishonest about his visit to Syria.


      Back to the topic. Videos are posted on youtube often to promote individuals and their accomplishments and sermons but are later pulled because of the public’s reaction and possible bad PR. happens all the time. Not just Hagee

    12. Matt on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Sam, your axe grinding is drowning your credibility out.


      As for Hagee…I suspect there were only a few videos that they wanted taken down…but just removing those would have been too obvious.  Instead, he nuked them all.  This would keep the videos from damaging him and make it seem like his motives were innocent in the process.


      pretty smart.

    13. Matt on Wed, July 09, 2008

      My last sentence should have read:


      This would keep the videos from damaging him and make it seem like his motives were innocent in the process by using the copyright infringement claim.

    14. Peter Hamm on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Sam,


      I’m a big fan of RW and probably disagree with you on him in general, but I think your concern you raise is genuine and sincere, and not just axe-grinding.


      I would rather that Rick apologized for saying something he regretted and then took the file down rather than just stay mum.


      We need a high-profile lawsuit at some point, because in many people’s opinions (including mine) YouTube does NOT constitute “fair use”… That’s my only real issue with it.

    15. Bart on Wed, July 09, 2008

      Just went to youtube.  Lots of Hagee videos.  Lots with him on interview and talk shows, but also lots of just him preaching.  Wondering if the removal of videos is true or just rumor, as it appears to me that something smells fishy.

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