Originally Posted by Icarus17:
“Having spent most of my career working for large organisations, I'd suspect that the timing had far more to do with the Christmas and New Year period being a useful quiet period to carry out a piece of dull, labour intensive, but necessary administration on the part of both YouTube and the BBC. Do you really think they want to go to the trouble and expense of trawling through millions of You Tube (and other) accounts looking for illegal video clips? Of course they don't. They do it because they have to.
Secondly, even if they had wanted to, the BBC couldn't contact Maltipom et al, only YouTube can. All the BBC can do is to provide YouTube with details of items that are in breach of their copyright. If the account holders were unhappy with YouTube's methods of deleting their files, then their beef is with YouTube, not the BBC. However, if you read YouTube's terms and conditions, YouTube behaved well within what is set out. (And if you don't want to accept YouTube's Ts and Cs, you don't have to sign up. Anyone with a spare PC to act as a web server and a bit of technical knowledge can set up an identical site.) Finally, and I know this sounds harsh, but efforts and the motives are utterly irrelevant if what you are doing breaches copyright, i.e., is illegal.”
Sorry, but the timing is
incredibly stupid - just after a series of Strictly finished. I too have worked for large organisations - the BBC being one of them - and its ability to misjudge and mistime decisions is legendary. (Just look at what it's done over the last year). I don't think it is anything to do with Christmas. I'm sure it's a time-consuming job, but so is most of the other admin both the BBC and Youtube have to carry out on a regular basis. This isn't all that different.
As far as your second point goes, I never suggested individual account holders be contacted: I suggested the BBC issued a press release and/or posted something on the Strictly website informing
us, the viewers, what they were doing and why.
And as for your comments about what Maltipom et al's activities being illegal, then answer me this: how come Youtube is full of clips from other BBC shows that aren't subject to this kind of policing?
And, mossy2103, sorry if you feel I, and others, are getting setimental - but we happen to feel passionately about having something we enjoyed taken away from us!

If it had to be done, OK - but there are ways of letting people down gently ...