Copyright As A Form Of Censorship

Copyright Maximalists And Lobbyists Celebrate Vancouver Aquarium Censoring Critical Documentary With Copyright

Mike Masnick | April 26, 2016

We've written many times about how copyright is frequently used for censorship, and just recently we wrote about law professor John Tehranian's excellent article detailing how copyright has a free speech problem, in that people using copyright to censor has become more common and more brazen. Whenever we write this kind of thing, however, I get pushback from copyright maximalist lobbyists and lawyers, who insist that no one really wants to use copyright for censorship purposes, but merely to "protect" their works. 
I'm finding those claims difficult to square with the following story, which I only found out about because the Copyright Alliance -- a front group for the big legacy entertainment companies, and put together by some well known lobbyists -- tweeted out a link to a story on a blog by Hugh Stephens, entitled A Whale of a (Copyright) Tale.

Local filmmaker Gary Charbonneau delivers a controversial documentary on the Vancouver Aquarium's rescue and captivity program.  Source: http://www.vancouverhumanesociety.bc.ca/vancouver-aquarium-uncovered-documentary/

<more at https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160423/23345034257/copyright-maximalists-lobbyists-celebrate-vancouver-aquarium-censoring-critical-documentary-with-copyright.shtml; related articles and links: http://vancouversun.com/opinion/aquagag-how-the-vancouver-aquarium-abuses-copyright-law-to-silence-criticism (Opinion: Aqua-gag — How the Vancouver Aquarium abuses copyright law to silence criticism. April 27, 2016) and http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/filmmaker-responds-to-vancouver-aquarium-in-documentary-lawsuit-1.3488265 (Filmmaker responds to Vancouver Aquarium in documentary lawsuit. Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered director claims use of aquarium footage not copyright infringement. March 11, 2016)>