Hey Videobloggers!

I am running into some problems with a content aggregator, and I could use your
advice. We have been discussing these issues a lot lately—and I have a new one,
that is beginning to make me reconsider my creative commons licensing and would
love to know what you all think.

(I apologize in advance for the length of this email, but I believe this is
important to discuss thoroughly)

This is a different issue than MyHeavy or the others who aggregate without
attribution and/or commercially exploit our work.

This morning I discovered that the work of one of my projects, Alive in Baghdad,
had been posted on the front page of http://ourmedia.com. (I have enclosed a
screen capture for your reference.) Not only did noone request the use of our
work, or inform us of our inclusion on this site, but OurMedia presents our
work in a way that could be significantly harmful to our project.

At first glance, the presentation of our work on OurMedia suggests to the
average viewer that AIB has a political, anti-war stance and that AIB is a part
of OurMedia. In fact this could not be farther from the truth, AiB takes pains
to present a balanced view of life in Iraq, that simply shows the experiences
and feelings of Iraqis, without adding a political tone.

Basically—in representing AIB, OurMedia selected a thumbnail of a woman with a
translated quote underneath that says “May God Curse Bush and all those that
brought him here.” Obviously, this is not a quote that we would choose to have
represent us. We worried about including that segment at all and feared that,
out of context, separate from our other work, it could cause harm to the public
face of the project, bring flamers, etc. However, inside of the entire episode,
we felt it was acceptable and was reflective of the situation in Iraq. We care
deeply about building a project that gives voice to Iraqi citizens—not towards
pushing a political agenda. Such a posting can damage the perceptions of Alive
in Baghdad and our future opportunities.

Additionally, OurMedia indicates that we are a member of their organization—i.e.
you'll notice to the right of the thumbnail, it lists a link titled "member
page" that links to AliveinBaghdad.org. AiB is not, nor has it ever been, a
member of Ourmedia. Given our experience, we question whether they actually
have 125,000 members....

OurMedia claims:
1) We're a nonprofit, open-source, volunteer effort to support the
community...Ourmedia is for users, not just consumers.

2) Ourmedia also says at the top of their front page: Do NOT post other
artists' copyrighted works without permission. Ourmedia is about showcasing your
creativity! Register now <http://www.ourmedia.org/user/register> !

Noone from OurMedia has contacted us in any manner—and we are not members of
their community. However, we are well known throughout the "vlogosphere" and
eminently approachable. And yet, they chose to post our video in the most
incendiary manner possible, without our permission.

If this is permissible under our creative commons license, we will need to
reconsider our licensing choices and how freely we allow the distribution of
our videos. It also makes us question the openness supposedly present in the
Videobloggers community. I’d really appreciate your thoughts and advice on this
issue.

Thanks,
Brian




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