SEC has Twitter take down Matt Jones's UK Basketball Tweets

Are we among friends now? Yes, good. Let’s be honest about something. Besides our beloved Kentucky Wildcats, it is beyond clear by now that SEC Basketball sucks. This year may be the worst year for the conference basketball-wise in history and every night seems to produce some result just a bit more embarrassing than the one before. Whether it is the painful non-conference losses, the alleged 2nd best team in the league taking a home loss to below .500 Vanderbilt or the most egregiously horrendous officiating of my lifetime, SEC Basketball has been a royal train wreck all season long. Thankfully for the SEC, Kentucky and more importantly the Big Blue Nation, exist to break the ubiquitous depression of SEC Basketball with actual excitement and top-level play. Without Kentucky, the SEC is the Atlantic 10 (or worse) and without the BBN, the overall average crowd attendance of league games would likely barely hover above that of your favorite 14th Region High School game. The SEC is a basketball wasteland and one would think the league would thank its lucky stars that UK and the BBN still throw a life preserver to its mediocrity.

However, that seems not to be the case. This weekend’s UK victory over South Carolina produced a view good video moments…Derek Willis had a dunk for the ages, SKJ had a reaction that can create 1,000 memes and Brad Calipari pinched Tai Wynyard’s nipple…all moments that bind us as fans. We posted them here on this site and I retweeted various fan postings of the moments from TV in short clips on my Twitter account. UK/SEC was able to get good (as opposed to normal horrendous) publicity and UK fans were able to share the best moments from an otherwise normal 20 point win. However this evening I received the response you see below from Twitter, as the SEC forced Twitter to take down all of my tweets showing any footage from the UK game. As you can see, the SEC claims ownership of all footage and wants to be the only entity to share it in any form online. (“ALL BRAD CALIPARI NIPPLE PINCHES ARE OURS!”) My tweets were removed and it looks as if they are gone to the dustbin of history, ensuring that the fans that consume the product the most cannot see their favorite moments from a big Rupp Arena home win.

It has seemed in recent weeks that the SEC has stepped up enforcement of its alleged copyright over UK games quite a bit. Our show “Hey Kentucky” was told to no longer showcase what we refer to as “B Roll” highlights from UK games on any presentation of our TV show online, even when that footage has been shot by our own photographers at the game. When we reached out to the SEC, they were increasing enforcement across the board, although as far as I have seen, we have been the only entity that has received such notices. Now this is apparently extending into the social media sphere as well, and it looks to be the policy of the league going forward.

I could go on and on about what a shortsighted, stupid policy the SEC’s current strategy is going forward. No one except UK fans cares about SEC basketball footage and to take it away from UK fans online seems ridiculous. The NBA, NFL and all other conferences have allowed social media sharing to go on and have given quotes saying they believe it helps their product. They are correct. That publicity and sharing helps their best plays get seen by more people, which only makes people want to watch the games more. The SEC Basketball powers that be showcase that the same level of competence they have put into fielding competitive basketball programs extends to their media expertise as well by going in the opposite direction. Going forward it looks as if the league is taking one of these two positions. They are either:

1. Beginning a crackdown of all social media sharing of highlights, first by going after media and then fans or

2. Beginning a crackdown of all KSR-affiliated sharing of highlights, first by TV and social media and later everything else as well

The latter scenario seems a little far-fetched, but I can’t completely dismiss it. Since I started the “Hey Kentucky” TV show, the official media partner of UK (JMI) has cut us out of all of their broadcasts and pressured our people with relationships with the company to no longer work with them. I can’t imagine the SEC would care enough to have a similar policy, but as of yet it seems it has only been our highlights that have been cracked down upon. Absent any more evidence, I will assume we are just the most notable media entity and this isn’t selective enforcement based on pettiness. Surely the league would be better than that.

The more likely scenario is the second. The SEC simply is cutting off its nose to spite its face. Under the guise of “protecting copyright”, they are choosing to limit the sharing of their already mediocre product and keep it from the one group of people that actually like it the most, UK fans. Rather than spend energy and resources in promoting and making what is positive about the league (UK) more visible, they would rather make their product value diminish by hiding it and keeping the best moments in as few of their (owned) resources as possible. While this may be legally valid (fair use applies but my guess is there is some addition to our credential application…which functions as a contract of sorts…that allows them to double down on their suspect business decisions with the self-delusion of legal superiority), it is another example of the league having little clue as to how to market its weakest sport in the new modern media age. SEC Basketball somehow finds a way to be the big loser, even when it wins.

Below is the notice we received from Twitter…nice job SEC…you own the Brad Calipari titty twister for all time. Use it wisely.

Hello,

The following material has been removed from your account in response to the DMCA takedown notice copied at
the bottom of this email:

Tweet: https://twitter.com/kysportsradio/status/822964904881754113 – Derek creates a Poster! RT @Scott_Charlton: #BBN https://t.co/jzkhYqPWoQ
Tweet: https://twitter.com/kysportsradio/status/822974680684437504 – Brad with the Nipple pinch on Tai RT @BluegrassHunter: @KySportsRadio https://t.co/fxA4VR3hd6
Tweet: https://twitter.com/kysportsradio/status/822965860902047744 – What did you say SKJ? RT @hunnner: @KySportsRadio https://t.co/ZaUCloTM9c

If you believe the material has been removed as a result of mistake or misidentification,
you may send us a counter-notification of your objection pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3).

Please include the following in your counter-notification:

Your full name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and Twitter user name.

Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location
at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.

The following statement: “I swear under penalty of perjury that I have a good faith belief that the material was
removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.”

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your address is located, or if your address is outside of the United States, the Northern District of California,
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Please send your counter-notification to us as a response to this message, or as a new email to [email protected].

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Please note that repeat violations of this policy may result in suspension of your account. In order to avoid this,
do not post additional material in violation of our Copyright Policy and immediately remove any material from your
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******************************

DMCA Takedown Notice

== Copyright owner: Southeastern Conference
== Name: Rebecca Bowden
== Company: XOS Digital
== Job title: Digital Content Coordinator
== Email address: [email protected]

== Address: 711 N. Orlando Ave Suite 301
== City: Maitland
== State/Province: FL
== Postal code: 32751
== Country: United States
== Phone (optional): n/a
== Fax (optional): n/a

——-

== Description of original work: Southeastern Conference copyrighted basketball game footage

== Links to original work: n/a

—

== Reported Tweet URL: https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/822964904881754113

== Description of infringement: Kentucky basketball footage is copyrighted material of the Southeastern Conference.

—

== Reported Tweet URL: https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/822974680684437504

== Description of infringement: Kentucky basketball footage is copyrighted material of the Southeastern Conference.

—

== Reported Tweet URL: https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/822965860902047744

== Description of infringement: Kentucky basketball footage is copyrighted material of the Southeastern Conference.

——-

== 512(f) Acknowledgment: I understand that under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), I may be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, if I knowingly materially misrepresent that reported material or activity is infringing.

== Good Faith Belief: I have good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

== Authority to Act: The information in this notification is accurate, and I state under penalty of perjury that I am authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

== Signature: Rebecca Bowden