Lansdowne public librarian Abbe Klebanoff came to us last week, dismayed over Sony’s censorship of a video she and her students had made to encourage teens to read. The video takes Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and transformed the song into “Read It”, with a dance to boot.
When the kids tried to upload the video to YouTube, Sony sent them a cease and desist letter. After some protest and media attention, Sony backed down on their claims of copyright infringement, allowing the library to post the parody. Good Morning America reported on the censorship and Ms. Klebanoff wrote a short essay on the issue for NCAC.