Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Rosetta Tombstone

Col. West in Russian

A number of people have written in the last few days to ask what happened to the subtitled videos of Col. Allen West’s speech on February 19th at the launch of the Freedom Defense Initiative.

As most readers will remember, immediately after the FDI event, Vlad Tepes and I mounted a Rosetta Stone project to subtitle Col. West’s speech in as many languages as possible. Our Rosetta Stone team did the translations, and then Vlad subtitled the videos and uploaded them to Vimeo. Over a two-month period the speech was made available in a total of fifteen languages.

Rosetta TombstoneThe videos remained online until a few days ago, when someone — presumably the organizers of the event or the videographer — complained to Vimeo that their copyright on the Col. West videos had been violated. Vimeo responded by taking down Vlad’s entire channel — eliminating many other useful and important videos along with those of Col. West.

We know that Allen West himself had no problem with our project, since he sent us a number of emails thanking us for the subtitled videos and praising our efforts.

All of the videos and posts linked lavishly to both FDI and the organizers, and we would have linked the videographer if we could have discovered his or her name. No one sent us any complaints or requests to take down the videos — for two months they were available for viewing, and then suddenly they were gone.

This action was unfortunate and destructive. And it’s not just the sad waste of hundreds of man-hours; the translated versions of Col. West’s speech helped his words escape beyond the borders of the United States. They let the world know that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do not represent us, that America has capable leaders who understand the global threat presented by Islam. Col. West’s words inspired people in Denmark, Russia, France, and at least twelve other countries.

Our work has not been lost entirely, however, because the time-stamped translations are still available — along with the defunct videos — at the original posts. For example, you can read the Dutch and Italian here, or the Hebrew and German here.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Our Rosetta Stone projects, both text and video, will continue. The next time we commit all those hours to a video operation, we’ll make sure to get advance permission from anyone who might claim copyright.

One of the Rosetta Stone text projects is still ongoing: Geert Wilders’ speech at the House of Lords in London on March 5th. There are three languages remaining, and they will be posted sometime in the next few days. We’re fortunate that Mr. Wilders doesn’t object to our publishing his translated words.

Now I’d like to celebrate the Rosetta Stone team.
- - - - - - - - -
Over the last two years it has grown to include roughly sixty translators and two video wizards. Vlad and Kitman handle the editing, subtitling, uploading, and maintenance of the video channels. Together they run Counterjihad Films — which unfortunately has been decimated by the loss of Vimeo.

Below is a list of active translators, to whom we owe a profound debt of gratitude for their tireless efforts. This list was compiled somewhat hastily, so please contact me if I left anybody out:

Albanian Ilia Toli, Ph.D. Hungarian DC
Bulgarian Georgi Dimitrov    Somogyi Zoltan
Czech Czech Infidel    Zoltan
  Margita Italian Gaia
  Marian CZ Japanese Jiraiya
Danish Anne-Kit Norwegian Kepiblanc
  Henrik Ræder Clausen   HTP
  Kepiblanc   Jun Girl
  Kitman   Zylark
  Signe Polish GeKo
  TB   Green Infidel
  Zonka   Joonas
Dutch Bolleke Portuguese Luigi
  H. Numan   MJF
  Michiel Mans   Rui
  VH Romanian Armance
Finnish KGS    Costin
  Markus   Rebellious Vanilla
  Vasarahammer Russian DarLink
French François   Peter1
  Gandalf of VV&D  Serbian Gray Falcon
  l’échappée belle   Witch-King of Angmar
  Robert Marchenoir Spanish Llew
German ESW  Swedish Cavatus
  JLH   Kepiblanc
  Kepiblanc   Henrik W.
  Liz   LN
Hebrew DarLink   Peter L.
    Tagalog UC
    Welsh Saxeus

It is truly an honor to co-ordinate the work of so many dedicated and selfless people who volunteer to work long hours in the cause of liberty.

My heartfelt thanks to the entire team.

32 comments:

In Hoc Signo Vinces† said...

In hoc signo vinces

Did I miss something Baron are there no back-ups, always back-up the work.

Strange that Vimeo knocked out the entire channel.

costin said...

the Romanian version is still online. I saved it just as an extra safety measure :D

Baron Bodissey said...

4Symbols,

Yes, you missed something. This is a copyright issue. That means that we can't repost backups or new versions. The same issue would arise, and Vlad would be legally vulnerable if he did it.

The project is now officially defunct.

Costin -- they may come after your version, too.

costin said...

Copyright issue? from who? who should Vlad talk to?

Baron Bodissey said...

Costin --

Either the person who took the video or the organizers of the event claimed the rights to the footage of Col. West. They complained to Vimeo, which responded by taking Vlad's channel down.

They may not bother with any of the other copies of the video. But, then again, they might.

Frank Kitman said...

If the original taper is uptight about other people using the footage, try and drop morgan wright or some of the other tapers a note, and ask if its ok to use their recordings...

He just used his pocket flipcam, but his recordings are fine. I am sure he won´t mind.
But you better hurry up before the enemies of free speech have HIS vimeo channel deleted aswell :-)

Here is a link to Morgan wrights recording of the Allen West´ speech

you can contact him here
http://2guysunleashed.com/?page_id=2

I know a lot of russians were loving his wise words, so we need to get this back up somehow

costin said...

Frank, the link to Morgan wrights recording of the Allen West´ speech doesnt seem to work

Frank Kitman said...

Hmm, those links didn´t work out too well... trying again.

Link to morgan wrights recordings of allen´s
speech

you can contact him here
here

Apparently other people have had their entire channels shutdown aswell because they were trying to get the word out


see
here: Description AND comment

costin said...

This is crazy! what about those Chinese/Russian/Romanian video streaming websites?

heroyalwhyness said...

Looking at the listing of all the translators (roughly sixty !!) who made the Rosetta Stone Projects possible is quite impressive. A small army, yes, but quite the effective army considering the effort to take the videos down. Some videos may be down for now, but all the written translations for
*Rosetta Stone for Geert Wilders
*Rosetta Stone for Fitna
*Rosetta Stone for Ehsan Jami
*Rosetta Stone for Lionheart
*Rosetta Stone for Co. West
all continue to exist and will continue to exist online here and at all the other blogs that posted them online. Persistent they may be, but they'll never succeed in erasing/silencing it all.
Rather than submit with disappointment to the latest roadblock, I raise my glass with deep gratitude to all involved with GoV Rosetta Stone projects and celebrate the satisfaction of successfully communicating these messages to a growing and diverse linguistic audience around this globe.
Afrikaans : Gesondheid! : (Ge-sund-hide)

Albanian : Gëzuar! : (Géschuar)

Arabic (Egyptian) : في صحتكم! : (Fee-sa-ha-tak)

Armenian : Armenia : (Gen-ots-it)

Azerbaijani : Afiyët oslun! : (Afeeyet Ohs-lun)

Basque : On egin! : (On egín)

Bosnian : Živjeli! : (Zhee-vi-lee)

Bulgarian : Наздраве! : (NAZ-dra-vey)

Chinese (Mandarin) : (Gan BAY)

Chinese : (Cantonese) : (Gom bui)

Czech : Na zdravi : (NAZ-drah vi)

Croatian : Živjeli! : (ZHEE-vi-lee)

Danish : Skål! : (Skol)

Dutch : Prosit! : (Prowst)

English : Cheers! Bottoms up! Down the hatch! Here’s mud in your eye!

Esperanto : Je via sano! Toston! : (YEH VEE-ah SAH-no/Tóston)

Estonian : Terviseks! : (Ter-vi-seks)

Ethiopian (Amharic) : Letenachin : (L’-TAY-nah-chin)

Farsi : (Ba-sal-a-ma-TEE)

Finnish : Kippis! : (KEEP-us)

French : A Votre Sante! : (Ah Vot-ruh Sahn-tay)

Gaelic (Irish) : Sláinte! : (Slawn-che)

German : Prost! : (Prohst)

Greek : στην υγειά σας! : (Stin Eyiassou/Stin Eye-ee-yass-ooh)

Hawaiian : Okole Maluna! : (Å’kålè ma’luna)

Hebrew : לְחַיִּים!/L’Chaim! : (Le Chy-em)

Hungarian : Egeszsegere! : (Egg-esh Ay-ged-reh)

Italian : Salute! : Cin cin! (Salu-tay/Chin Chin)

Japanese : /Kampai! : (Kam-pie)

Korean :(Chukbae) : (Sheet seki yah)

Latvian : Prieka! : (Pree-eh-ka)

Lithuanian i : sveikata! : (Ee sweh-kata)

Luxembourgish : Prost! : (Prohst)

Maltese : Evviva! : (A-vee-va)

Mongolian : Эрүүл мэндийн төлөө! : (Erüül mehdiin tölöö)

Norwegian : Skål! : (Skoal)

Persian : به سلامتی! : (beh salamati)

Polish Na : zdrowie! : (Naz-droh-vee-ay)

Portuguese : Saúde! : (Sow-ooh-jee)

Romanian : Noroc! : (No-roak)

Russian : Будем здоровы! : (Boo-dem Zdo-ro-vee-eh)

Serbian : Ziveli! : (ZHEE-vi-lee)

Slovak : Na zdravie! : (Naz-drah-vee-ay)

Spanish : ¡Salud!/Salut! : (Sah-lud/Sah-lute)

Swedish : Skål! : (Skol)

Thai : ไชโย! : (Chuc-dee)

Turkish : Şerefe! : (Sher-i-feh)

Vietnamese : Chúc sức khoẻ! : (chook-sa-koi-ah)

Yiddish : געזונטערהייט! Zei Gazunt! : (Zye GAH-zoont)

Zulu : Oogy wawa! : (oogee-wawa)

Robert Spencer said...

Ned

Your post is false and libelous.

Neither Pamela Geller nor I, the organizers of the FDI event, ever complained to Vimeo or anyone else, or ever asked anyone that this video be taken down.

Mother Effingby said...

Has the Rosetta Stone language instruction software company been notified of any possible copyright infringements on your use of Rosetta Stone...not that there ought to be. It just might be confusing, is all.

Baron Bodissey said...

Jewel --

"Rosetta Stone" refers to the archaeological artifact by the same name, which was discovered (if I remember correctly) during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt. It revealed the first translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics into a known language.

The phrase is public domain. It is commonly used in books, encyclopedias, magazine articles etc.

The Rosetta Stone company can only trademark the specific design of their use of the words, not the phrase itself.

It would be like trying to trademark "Plymouth Rock" or something.

S said...

What's to stop ANYONE from complaining and saying they own the rights? Does the host check before removing it? Or just remove it for fear of lawsuits without checking.

Vladtepesblog.com said...

S good question. Each static video site will have it's own criteria I am sure, to determine what and how it will allow a video to remain on its servers.
Ironically, youtube is among the best in terms of allowing controversial material to remain, typically only getting hostile if people use a music track or a bit of video that an actual government does not want up for security or whatever reasons.

This is probably why the version of the West video remained on my YT channel despite complaints by the same person likely responsible for having them pulled from Vimeo.

Vimeo probably has a lower threshold.

Anonymous said...

I implore all the people at this blog and over at Atlas Shrugs + Jihad Watch to not let this escalate into a major row or division between you.

I follow and admire all your work collectively. It would be a massive blow to our shared goals of defeating Islamic supremacism if we are needlessly arguing amongst ourselves. Please let it be water under the bridge and carrying on working together in the name of freedom.

Zenster said...

Robert Spencer: Neither Pamela Geller nor I, the organizers of the FDI event, ever complained to Vimeo or anyone else, or ever asked anyone that this video be taken down.

Robert Spencer,

Your vigor in denying complicity with respect to disputing the video rights rather exceeds whatever appreciation you might have shown for the tremendous effort put forth by the Gates of Vienna community in providing pro bono translations of Col. Alan West's moving oratory.

This comes across as damningly faint praise for what, rightfully, should be hearalded as the outstanding effort that it is. A far more constructive reply might have included some sort of commitment to contact the videographer regarding a conditional release of rights in order that this massive labor of love not go to waste.

There already exist too many counterproductive divisions within the counter jihad community for this needless breach to be allowed to interfere further with much needed unity. Please consider directing your efforts towards such an end as opposed to taking offense where, I am quite confident, none was intended.

Sincerely,

Zenster

Southern Wolf said...

Zenster, I agree. There is no need for divisions in the anti-jihad forces. Each site, Gates of Vienna, Vlad Tepes, Jihad Watch, Atlas Shrugs and the many others, has a valuable role to play in this struggle. If it is merely a question of a copuright on the Rosetta Stone vids then by all means give attribution where it is due so they can be reposted. I understand the videographer who made the original Allen West vid is at
Vigilant Squirrel Brigade. Perhaps Vlad and she can collaborate in this and other work.

Anonymous said...

OK, everybody, I have read your various comments at the Gates of Vienna and Atlas Shrugs sites, and now I want to comment myself. Gates of Vienna, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch are all awesome web sites. Likewise, all of the Gates of Vienna translators are amazing. I love the Gates of Vienna essays and news feeds. A great big thank you to all involved.

That said, I find Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs to be extremely and unusually intellectually generous with her work. Indeed, Geller is so generous that I have privately counseled her to copyright and trademark more of her work.

Authors and videographers should copyright their work. People who want to use that work for any purpose (other than limited fair use) should obtain PRIOR written permission to use that work. That prior permission may entail conditions of use including the proper assignment of creative credit.

Any copyright violators are lucky that no one seems to be seeking money damages - which would necessitate the hiring of lawyers.

As a member of the public, I would like to again re-iterate my total gratitude for all of your hard work. Thank you very much!

MaryGold said...

As much as I love this site, and appreciate all the hard work you do, it seems to me that Pamela has a valid point. Why has work that belongs to someone else been posted without acknowledgment?

Unless you respond to her post in some comprehensive way, it will be difficult to be sympathetic to your version of events here.

I am disappointed, like everyone else, that you have all let this spat go public in this way.

The vultures shall feast.


M.

Inalienable Rights said...

Channeling Ceasar Rodney in 1776...

Stop it! Stop it!! This is the CounterJihad! Stop it, I say! The enemy is out there! I say he's out there -- Islam, Islam closing in, cutting off our freedom -- choking our words. There's no time - no time

Baron, Pamela, Robert, Vlad - drop the assumptions, egos, legalities, and righteous indignation and make this right. If the vanguards of our tiny band of freedom fighters cannot pull together, we're in a world of hurt (aka Dar al-Harb).

Disputes like this could almost cause a dhimmi to long for a Shariah court.

MaryGold said...

Amazing: Atlas Shrugs is down.

I read her post challenging you, and now her entire site is inaccessible.


I really hope this is a freaky coincidence!!!!

MaryGold said...

Everything is up n running again there now , must just have been me.
Sorry for the panic!


I hope things get cleared up between you guys.

:)

Bill said...

Baron,

I posted the below comment on Atlas shrugs and will shortly post a comment on Jihad Watch. Personally I am a little miffed as to why Robert and Pamela sought to debate this on the blog rather than through other channels. As you noted we are to few and we have bigger issues. I can only hope you communicated to other parties you had no ill intention and that we have "bigger fish to fry than each other." Hopefully this will resonate with Pamela and Robert. I love your site and wish you all the best.

Thx
Bill

Pamela,

I am a long time reader of Atlas as well as Jihad Watch. I literally visit your's and Robert's site daily. I almost never post simply because I almost always agree. Further you have both done a excellent job getting the word out. However I do also love the Gates Of Vienna site and it was with dismay that I read this entry and the one on Jihad Watch. As a casual observer I would only suggest this type of dispute be done behind closed doors. As you mentioned we are to few and I am sure that no ill intentions were meant for theis mistake. Instead of airing the dirty laundry of the "team"(those of us opposed to Islamic supremacism) a better course of action would be to resolve this diplomatically outside the blog world. We don't need divisions likes this let alone ones aired for all to see. I apologize if this might rub you wrong but I have always believed the best advice often comes from those not emotionally attached to an issue. All the best to you and keep up the great work.

Thx
Bill

Bill said...

Baron,

It has also just come to my attention that some prior transgression occured of which I was unaware and frankly don't want to learn any more about. My only suggestion in the name of teamwork is to try and address everything so we can focus on much more important issues. We don't all have to love each other but we must be a team if we are ever going to face the threat of Islamic supremacism. We can't do that if we are letting internal spats detract from our effort. If apologies are neccessary it is time to own up to them or at least try explain how prior issues may have been misread. Sorry I am sounding like a mother hen but it rips my heart apart to see us fighting like this. All the best to and the Gates of Vienna team.

Thx
Bill

costin said...

I got this a few hours ago, and the Allen West video was deleted:

"Dear Patruped Bun:

This is to notify you that, as a result of a third-party notification by Pamela Hall claiming that the material is infringing, we have removed or disabled access to the material that appeared at http://www.vimeo.com/11159463.

If you believe that your material has been removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, please provide VIMEO's Copyright Agent with a written counter-notification containing at least the following information (please confirm these requirements with your legal counsel or see Section 512(g)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 512(g)(3), for more information)"

This whole fight is freaking crazy! I really didnt see this one coming.

las said...

During the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805, Admiral Lord Nelson came upon two of his officers engaged in a dispute. Upon addressing them he turned, pointing to sea, and exclaimed, “GENTLEMEN! THERE IS YOUR ENEMY!”

Pamela, Pam, Baron, Robert…Patch this up…. Quick! Please!

Imperialistu' said...

Great job, Robert. Now Charles Johnson is really having fun... You owe the Baron an apology. Pamela was wrong as well.

I never believed i would see you being so arogant and disrespectful with people who are doing all the can for the anti-jihad cause.

Anonymous said...

"This list was compiled somewhat hastily, so please contact me if I left anybody out."

Actually, it seems I have been left in, which is quite flattering... but undeserved, since I did not contribute to the project.

Baron Bodissey said...

Robert --

You were included not for this specific project, but for all the hard work you have done for us in the past -- some of it quite recent -- translating articles from the French media.

You have merited the gratitude we feel!

Anonymous said...

costin, upload it on trilulilu. That site never takes anything down from what I saw, regardless of what happens. :))

costin said...

rebelliousvanilla,
I already tried a few time, but didnt work. I'll try again