MLK Video Removed on Internet Freedom Day

Internet Freedom Day was celebrated worldwide on Friday January 18^th. A website was created to provide suggestions on how to promote the occasion and spread awareness of the need for an open and accessible Internet. One of the actions suggested on this site is to share a copyrighted video on the Internet:

Engage in a small act of civil disobedience and share this video of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech. Dr. King’s call for racial justice is as relevant today as it was in 1963. Because this speech is copyrighted, if SOPA had passed, entire websites could have been shut down just for linking to it. This speech is too important to be censored by broken copyright laws. Please share it today.

As an article by the Washington Post has pointed out, Internet activists posted the video of the speech to Vimeo. However, Vimeo removed the video after only a few hours. Digital Trends has reported that the video was removed because it violated the Vimeo terms of service. The footage contained in the video is currently owned by EMI Publishing.