American reporter who notably worked at The Verge, a technology blog operated by Vox Media, covering gadgets and consumer electronics news, product reviews, and podcasts.
In September 2018, The Verge published the article “How to Build a Custom PC for Editing, Gaming or Coding” and uploaded a video to YouTube entitled “How we Built a $2000 Custom Gaming PC”, which was criticized for containing errors on almost every step presented by the video’s reporter, Stefan Etienne, including but not limited to: PSU being installed in the wrong direction, hammering the I/O shield to the case, and saying that LEDs are the main reason to buy RAM. After initially disabling comments, The Verge removed the video, though reuploads exist.
In February 2019, lawyers from The Verge’s parent company Vox Media filed a DMCA takedown notice, requesting YouTube remove videos critical of The Verge’s video, alleging copyright infringement. YouTube took down two of the videos, uploaded by YouTube channels BitWit and ReviewTechUSA, while applying a copyright “strike” to these two channels. YouTube reinstated the two videos and retracted the copyright “strikes” after a request from Verge editor Nilay Patel, although Patel acknowledged that he agreed with the legal argument that led to their removal.
Timothy B. Lee of Ars Technica described this controversy as an example of the Streisand effect, saying that while law regarding fair use is unclear regarding this type of situation, “the one legal precedent … suggests … that this kind of video is solidly within the bounds of copyright’s fair use doctrine.”
Link to Wikipedia biography