We finally get to the real show based on the Netflix series All the Light We Cannot See. The show is a four-part mini-series about clandestine broadcasting during WWII. It’s set mostly in a small, coastal French town that is occupied by Germany, and is being bombarded by Allied planes coming across the Channel. A young woman named Marie has taken over broadcast duties from her uncle. Her broadcasts contain coded mssages helping the Allies make precision bombing runs. Marie is being hunted by Werner, a reluctant German radio operator, using DF equipment to pinpoint her location.

This being the main theme of the series, there is a lot of radio operation, and a lot of gear. Little of it is explained in detail, and what detail they show is usually somewhat wrong. That’s because this is media for the general public, and getting it right would be boring and take too long. So it’s the usual Hollywood license for any technical profession, whether it’s radio, medicine, law, etc. Details get in the way of storytelling.

Our goal is to highlignt the radio operating, and note the errors, while appreciating that a program has this much radio (and radio people) at all. So we pulled about 17 minutes of footage from the series, play it and comment on it.

Or at least we tried.

YouTube had a different idea. Halfway through the show, they start blacking out the video and audio, with a title saying they detected copyright material. When Gary comes back on screen, the video resumes, but the YouTube bot isn’t very precise with its timing. Eventually, YouTube just takes the stream down, noting a copyright violation.

But they give us a chance to appeal. Gary takes it immediately, and to his surprise, within minutes he gets email from YouTube saying they AGREE with his appeal and restore the program.

But the program they restore is the one with big segments blocked out, and ending early, where they terminated the live stream. Thanks for nothing!

Gary recorded the episode locally, and uploaded it to our YouTube channel, thinking A) they won’t file a copyright claim on this one, because they already agreed that it was Fair Use, and B) Don’t believe that for a second.

Yep, the upload was not only flagged but fully blocked, worldwide. Gary filed a dispute… we’ll see if this one is handled with the speed that Netflix responded to Episode 504. They filed a copyright claim there, too, based on us showing their trailer. Gary filed a dispute, and Netflix relented in less than 24 hours.

[UPDATE] Nope… a few days later, and it’s still down. And for good measure, they also blocked the Live, Censored version that YouTube had restored😒. For more, move on to Episode 507: All The POD We Cannot See

[UPDATE #2] The show is unblocked! Gary had to file a few more disputes, and that triggered a 48 hour timer to allow the program to air, even if Netfilx hadn’t responsed to the dispute yet (they haven’t, as of 12/16/2023). That timer ran out today, and the show is visible again.

LINKS:

• Helge LA6NCA’s original demonstration of the DF equipment (in Norwegian, with English subtitles)