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Who Owns a Monkey's Selfie? And a Song About Meningitis!

2014-08-08 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Nerdfighteria, Personal life) · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, song or performance, community lore

With John home from hospital with viral meningitis, Hank explains why the Wikimedia Foundation treats a macaque's selfie on David Slater's camera as public domain (monkeys can't own property), finds that argument sensible, and sings John a Calvin Harris-based get-well song.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank's head cold vs John's viral meningitis; entertaining John

  • ★★ Hank has a head cold, but John has just come home from hospital with viral meningitis, so Hank will suck it up and try to entertain him. — 00:00:01 · John Green

00:00:17 — The monkey selfie: David Slater's camera, the macaque, Wikimedia's public-domain ruling

  • ★★ Hank says the monkey selfie was taken when photographer David Slater's camera was stolen by a rare crested black macaque, which took many pictures of itself, other macaques and leaves. — 00:00:19
  • ★ Hank says this shot is good for its smile, focus, depth of field and composition, and because selfies have permeated culture and a monkey selfie is silly and funny. — 00:00:35
  • ★★ Hank says the picture became David Slater's most famous and most successful photograph ever, at least by some measures. (hedged) — 00:00:51
  • ★★★ Hank says Slater makes his living selling photographs, but the Wikimedia Foundation has declared this picture public domain, free for everyone to use. — 00:01:00
  • ★★★ Hank explains the reasoning: Slater didn't take the photo, a monkey did, and monkeys, at least so far, cannot legally own anything, including intellectual property. — 00:01:15
  • ★★★ Hank finds it unfortunate for Slater, who hauled heavy expensive equipment far, but thinks Wikimedia's argument makes sense: it's everybody's photo, which is why he can use it here. (hedged) — 00:01:27

00:01:44 — John's meningitis; Hank's three videos in a row; John's three hospital-missed videos

  • ★★★ Hank tells confused viewers that John, his brother, got viral meningitis last week (week of 28 July 2014); he is home from hospital and fine, though still in significant pain. — 00:01:46 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank says that, for a first time ever on Vlogbrothers, he has three videos in a row, because of Esther Day and John's missed video; it's like the Hank Show and he doesn't like it. (playful) — 00:01:59 · Vlogbrothers, Esther Day
  • ★★ Hank says John has now missed three videos through hospitalisation: orbital cellulitis (an infection behind his eyeball), gallbladder removal, and now viral meningitis. — 00:02:16 · John Green

00:02:29 — Recalling Stuff on Heads for John's eye infection; 'Meningitis is a bummer' song to Calvin Harris

  • ★★ Hank recalls that the first time John missed a video, for the eye infection, the community made a video of people putting stuff on their heads to help him feel better. — 00:02:29 · Stuff on Heads
  • ★ Hank says he will do it again, in the spirit of questionable copyright, with the help of 'my friend Calvin Harris'. (playful) — 00:02:45
  • ★★ In his song Hank lists meningitis symptoms: pounding head, stiff neck, sensitivity to sound, rising cranial pressure, falling blood pressure, a brain starved of oxygen — but you will rebound. (playful) — 00:02:52

00:03:46 — Sign-off: hoping John is back on Tuesday

  • ★ Hank really hopes to see John on Tuesday because he doesn't want to do this by himself anymore. (hedged) — 00:03:46 · John Green

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says a photographer is suing the Wikimedia Foundation for treating his photograph as public domain, and only a judge can decide who is correct. — video description
    • check: is suing — doubtful
  • ★★ The description calls it really weird that copyright disputes can only be settled by a judge, and asks whether Hank would own a great shot his dropped camera took. — video description
  • ★★ Hank wonders whether a work made by a non-human that a human owns, like a dog, would pass to its owner, as output of software belongs to whoever owns the software - which would not change this case, since no one owns that monkey. (hedged) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • The macaque's many photos were mostly bad. — 00:00:29

    “Most of them were terrible - like anybody with a DSLR.”

  • Hank justifies another stuff-on-heads get-well video: putting stuff on your head makes people feel better. — 00:02:41

    “It's a well-known scientific fact... uh there's journal articles all about it.”

  • To the tune of Calvin Harris's 'Summer', Hank sings John a get-well song about his viral meningitis. — 00:02:52

    “Meningitis is a bummer,”

  • Alone on the channel for a third video in a row, Hank pleads for John to come back. — 00:03:52

    “It's not Vlogbrother!!”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: copyright · David Slater · meningitis · Monkey selfie · Wikimedia Foundation

Also: Celebes crested macaque · Esther Day · intellectual property · orbital cellulitis · public domain · selfie · Stuff on Heads · Summer (“Meningitis is a bummer”)

Only in the description or credits: Calvin Harris · dog

Also centred on copyright: August 31: Copyright and Airports · Top 5 Reasons ████ ██ ██████ · Old Man Narrates Young Girl · On the Ownership of Ideas · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters · The Bizarre State of Copyright

Also centred on meningitis: EBOLA! (...meningitis)

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