YouTube Kills Our Hitler Parodies

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/11086952[/vimeo]

No self-respecting Internet user can possibly have missed the many and varied Hitler parodies based on scenes from Constantin Films’ 2004 film, Der Untergang (“Downfall”). They’ve been everywhere, with one particularly hilarious example depicting the defeated German leader’s reaction on hearing the iPod touch lacks a camera.

Now they’re gone.

YouTube has begun removing videos that feature content from the movie because Constantin Films has suddenly decided to use Google’s Content I.D. system to take down the clips. Which is strange, as these things have been flying around the ‘Net for six years or so.

Director of the movie the clips come from, Oliver Hirschbiegel told New York Magazine in January 2010: “Someone sends me the links every time there’s a new one. I think I’ve seen about 145 of them! Of course, I have to put the sound down when I watch. Many times the lines are so funny, I laugh out loud, and I’m laughing about the scene that I staged myself! You couldn’t get a better compliment as a director.”

The EFF note: “If copyright owners want to block remix creativity, they should have to use a formal DMCA takedown notice (and be subject to legal punishment if they fail to consider fair use), rather than a coarse automated blocking tool (Content I.D.).”

VIA: PC World