EFF: YouTube shouldn't block works by video artist Amy Greenfield

Update: YouTube has reversed its decision, and Greenfield's art will not be blocked.

(Video contains artistic nudity).

EFF and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) wrote to YouTube today, asking the video hosting giant to reconsider its removal of the work of internationally recognized video artist Amy Greenfield. Snip from commentary by Kurt Opsahl at EFF.org:

Amy Greenfield received notice from YouTube that her works, which contain some artistic nudity, did not conform with YouTube's "community standards." Under YouTube's policies, "films and television shows may contain [full nudity]; however, videos originating from the YouTube user community must abide by the YouTube Community Guidelines and are not permitted to include such content." (emphasis in original). The Community Guidelines purport to allow nudity with "some educational, documentary and scientific content, but only if that is the sole purpose of the video and it is not gratuitously graphic," but does not recognize the value of nudity in art.

Video Above: TIDES, by Amy Greenfield, which has been screened at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The Museum of Modern Art, NYC; The London and Edinburgh Film Festivals.

"We do not stand on the shore and inquire of the ocean what was its movement in the past. We know that the movement of its nature is eternal to its nature."—Isadora Duncan, The Dance Of The Future.