Attempt to Silence the Political Speech at Right Wing Watch
Former Navy chaplain and Colorado Assembly candidate Gordon Klingenschmitt launched a campaign to use the DMCA to shut down the YouTube account of People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch (“RWW”) project. RWW reports and comments on the political views of folks like Klingenschmitt, using their own words. Klingenschmitt sent a series of takedown notices claiming that RWW's use of clips of his program infringed his copyrights—never mind that RWW was obviously posting them as part of its critical work. Because YouTube has a policy of shutting down accounts after three takedown notices, Klingenschmitt’s bogus complaints caused RWW’s entire account to be taken offline—twice. The harassment finally stopped only when PFAW, also with EFF's help, threatened to take Klingenschmitt to court.
