fuck hbo

this is why you can no longer see the 'this land is your land' video (youtube) i posted a few ago (and of course a ton of others posted as well)

really, FUCK YOU HBO
(and the same goes to the inauguration committee who made this asinine decision in the first place. THIS IS AMERICA WE ALL DESERVE TO SEE THIS FOR FREE)

HBO owns Obama's inaugural concert. If you took any photos or videos you'd better destroy them now.
Joe Sudbay (DC) ·
This land is their land.

HBO has been busy. Not only did they pick a fight with the Obama Inaugural Committee over openly-gay Bishop Gene Robinson (HBO censored Robinson's invocation, so no one will be seeing it), they've been scouring the Internet to make sure no one sees evidence of yesterday's Obama inaugural event.

Yesterday, I posted a clip of Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing "This Land is Your Land" at the "We Are One" Obama inaugural concert. Perhaps you've heard of the concert - it's that amazing event down on the Mall set to kick off the inauguration of our next president. But that song is HBO's song. They took down my video claiming copyright infringement. That's the spirit, HBO. You own the inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall which is is officially part of the swearing in of our next president. Nice.

I get that HBO has rights, but when they're broadcasting news -- and the concert was news -- they need to relax. It's not like I copied one of their stupid shows (and after "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City," most are pretty stupid.) And, the Presidential Inaugural Committee should have thought through the concept of letting a corporation own Obama's inaugural concert. Again, it was at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall and was an official event of the inauguration of our president. We all own that, not HBO.

YouTube sent this email:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Home Box Office, Inc. claiming that this material is infringing:

This is Your Land: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-PCpRWqXv8)

Class act, HBO. God forbid people get to see Pete Seeger sing "This Land is Your Land." And, doesn't this violate the spirit of the idea that corporate America doesn't own D.C. anymore??...................

The Audacity of the Presidential Inauguration Committee: or This Land is Whose Land?

Susan Brison

I was looking forward to watching the Inaugural Concert with my son this afternoon. Really looking forward to it. I'd heard that it was being broadcast on HBO, but I'd also heard that it HBO would let non-subscribers watch it for free.

It wasn't obvious to me, though, how, as a non-HBO subscriber, I would be able to watch it, so I paid very close attention to the channels I do get -- CNN and MSNBC, among others -- in the hour leading up to the concert. The talking heads kept alluding to the upcoming concert, in ways that led me to expect they would be broadcasting it.

The first sign that something was amiss came when, during the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner, the talking heads just kept on talking, saying things like 'people are holding their hands over their hearts . . . they seem to be very moved . . . .' And then, at the conclusion of the National Anthem, the reporters abruptly cut away from the concert entirely, explaining that the Presidential Inauguration Committee had sold exclusive rights to broadcast this extraordinarily, historically, inclusive "We Are One" concert at Lincoln Memorial to HBO. So those of us who hadn't had the foresight -- or the financial wherewithal -- to subscribe to HBO (or to one of the cable or satellite dish companies that had worked out an agreement with HBO) would not be able to see or hear it...........