Landmine publisher takes copyright-strike complaint against APD to Assembly Tuesday

Alaska Landmine publisher Jeff Landfield alleges that the Anchorage Police Department filed a copyright strike against a video his outlet posted on Facebook that was critical of Police Chief Sean Case, temporarily removing it from the platform. A copyright strike is a complaint to the platform that a post uses someone else's copyrighted material, which takes the post down while the claim is reviewed. Landfield says the video has since been restored, but he claims APD still will not answer questions about why the strike was filed in the first place.

Landfield filed an Assembly Appearance Request with the Office of the Municipal Clerk on Sept. 7, asking to raise the matter at the Assembly's Sept. 15 meeting. "I would like to talk about how APD filed a copyright strike against the Alaska Landmine for a video posted on our Facebook page critical of Chief Sean Case," he wrote on the form. He says the department did not respond to an email about the strike until after the Landmine published a story on it. "The video has since been restored but APD still refuses to answer questions about what they did," Landfield wrote.

Municipal code gives the clerk, working with the Assembly chair, discretion over whether the request reaches the agenda. Requests may be rejected when administrative channels have not been used or when the matter falls outside municipal authority. This one was granted. The Sept. 15 agenda lists two appearance requests, with Landfield second. Speakers get three minutes, and appearance requests are heard between 5:15 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The department has not publicly responded to the allegation, and the record contains no account from APD or from Case, who was appointed by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance.