An Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant is under investigation after playing a Taylor Swift song on his phone to keep activists from filming him. The tactic—sometimes referred to as “copyright hacking”—undermines citizen’s ability to record the police because playing music can trigger a copyright violation on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.
Earlier this week, members of the Justice for Steven Taylor coalition and Anti Police-Terror Project filmed an interaction they had with Sergeant Shelby of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office on the steps of Oakland’s courthouse.
In the video, Anti Police-Terror Project Policy Director James Burch tells Officer Shelby, “We film interactions with law enforcement for our protection.” In response, Officer Shelby pulls out his cell phone and starts playing Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space.”
Later in the clip, Officer Shelby makes his intentions very clear.
“You can record all you want I just know it can’t be posted on YouTube,” says Officer Shelby.
“Is this procedure for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department?” asks Burch.
“It’s not specifically outlined,” says Officer Shelby.
ABC7 reports that Shelby is now under investigation by internal affairs for possibly violating the code of conduct.
Despite Officer Shelby’s claim the tactic isn’t specifically outlined, it is a growing phenomenon amongst law enforcement in the United States. In the YouTube description of the video, the Anti Police-Terror Project writes, “We’d heard about this phenomenon but no one had captured it on video until now. Now not only do we have a video of a cop doing it, we also have the cop admitting why he was doing it.”
The Anti Police-Terror Project is wrong about one thing; this is not the first time this tactic has been captured on video. As VICE reporter Dexter Thomas has noted, this same strategy has been used by officers in Beverly Hills and Illinois earlier this year.
In February, Beverly Hills Sgt. William Fair played Sublime’s “Santeria” while being livesteamed by Los Angeles activist Sennett Devermont on Instagram.
In another video from Devermont, this one filmed in January, Beverly Hills officers played The Beatles' “Yesterday” and refused to talk to him.
The strategy goes beyond California. In Illinois, an officer played Blake Shelton’s “Nobody But You” while being filmed.
In all these cases, the officers seem keenly aware of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was designed to protect the work of copyright holders from online theft. Platforms like YouTube and Instagram use algorithms to search for violations, and if they find them, videos risk being muted, ended, or outright deleted. If an account is repeatedly causing infractions, their account can be suspended altogether.
