With this short email message Universal and Facebook admitted they were wrong:

“UMG accepted your dispute and released their claim on ad earnings from this video. You’ll receive your share of the ad earnings from this video if there are no other claims.”

No apology, nothing even approaching sorry Sean that we treated you like a thief, nothing that admits in the slightest that both companies acted like bullies and took punitive action without thought, discussion or any form of compromise.

For over a week they simply threw their weight around because they can and the likes of me haven’t got a leg to stand on unless we want to get into a legal fight. Well, fuck you Universal and fuck you too Facebook because you’re just as complicit in this.

It is simply appalling that a bot can decide to claim copyright on someone’s original work without any consultation, without any human interaction until the victim makes a counter-claim. These two companies know full well their their legal coffers are massively bigger than anything I can muster and they take advantage of that to jack-boot their way around the internet deciding who they will target with total impunity.

So, I’m no longer a criminal, I am no longer a thief but I am still angry. Very angry.