Copyright sweeps and limited archiving: big changes are coming to Twitch, and users are alarmed.

Twitch today announced two major policy changes, both of which impact end users.

According to the Twitch blog, the service today implemented an audio recognition system. This system checks archived videos for copyright material, and enforces 30 minutes of silence whenever it is detected.

What that means is that if you were playing copyright music during a stream, and then archived that stream, you’ll now have gaping periods of silence, with all audio muted. This applies to in-game music as well.

The change is likely to affect thousands of archived videos, and indeed has even hit some of Twitch’s own archives.

“We respect the rights of copyright owners, and are voluntarily undertaking this effort to help protect both our broadcasters and copyright owners,” Twitch said.

“Audio Recognition will only be run against audio in VODs. We are not scanning live broadcasts and there is no automated takedown of live content.

“Flagged Content will display an on-screen notification informing viewers that content owned or controlled by a third party has been identified. The progress bar will also be red for the duration of the muted section.”

Twitch said the system is not 100% accurate and may return false positives or miss copyrighted materials, and said users can file claims for incorrect flagging.

“If you wish to include music in your VODs, please remember that you are responsible for clearing all such rights (this includes ambient music that may be playing in the background while you are broadcasting),” the service added, linking to various free music sources as alternatives to copyrighted materials.

Interestingly, Twitch noted that it’s not legally obliged to filter user’s content for copyright claims and is doing so voluntarily, which is likely to make some users even more upset.



Posted: Aug 07, 2014 1:26 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: http://www.vg247.com/2014/08/07/twitch-dmca-takedowns-deleted-archives-policy-changes-youtube-buyout/