The DMCA is a morally bankrupt law whose only purpose is to engage in economic protectionism. You know it, the media industry knows it, Congress knows it, and so does everyone else. Citing it as an example of why the content is "dangerous" or "harmful" is a very poor argument indeed.
This is such a terrible fiasco. You know, I chose to criticize the one video that Jeff singled out as offending. And Jeff has a lot of great content on his channel. Jeff has good and fun DIY projects. Jeff has also said that he is supporting his family, feeding his children, paying for health insurance and medical bills with the earnings from YouTube. This is a legitimate line of work, and Jeff is honestly doing what he can in good faith. Jeff is open to complying with the rules on YouTube, if he knew what they are and they didn't subtly change all the time (he released that video last year!)
And seeing that Jeff is 100% honest with his endeavors there and promoting his channel, rather than choosing a life of crime, or taking wages under-the-table, or abandoning his spouse and children... he chose a virtuous way. But what is HN telling Jeff?
HN is telling Jeff that his entire ecosystem is irredeemably evil. These fundamental protections that Jeff enjoys, the ones that get him paid, those are abominations and must be destroyed. That YouTube is wrong, DMCA is wrong, advertisements must be blocked, advertisers are pure, unadulterated greed incarnate; that copyright has gone too far, that anyone should be able to grab Jeff's videos off YouTube without being offended by an advertisement or a paid sponsor.
So do you want Jeff to feed his family or not? If you want to burn it all down and leave Jeff unemployed? Is that the undercurrent we are feeling here? You have come out against YouTube as if against a band of robbers, and Jeff feels abused and used and exploited right now, but still Jeff tells us that he's legally earning an income, and he's deriving that income from the infrastructure and legal framework that Hacker News hates with a white-hot hatred.
So that's an overwhelming tsunami of cognitive dissonance for this self-righteous keyboard warrior tonight.
Seems like you're arguing that Jeff wouldn't make money from his channel if the DMCA simply didn't exist at all. I think that's a bit of a stretch. We were discussing his ripping of Bluray discs, which is why DMCA is mentioned.
