TheCaroVan's YouTube channel

TheCaroVan's YouTube channel is no more.  The channel featured short clips of bellydancers from the Middle East and occasionally singers, usually in scenes or clips taken from old Egyptian and Lebanese movies some as far back as the 1930s.  Full movies were never uploaded.
TheCaroVan YouTube account has been terminated after receiving copyright demands from companies and copyright organisations who claimed the ownership of some of the clips and/or the accompanying music.  While some of the claims were from entities who, after a minimal amount of research proved to be non-existent, some claims and organisations were legitimate and if you were a regular visitor to TheCaroVan you would have noticed that in the past, clips has been removed in compliance.
In the end, TheCarovan account was terminated due to a take-down notice by a company in France who claims to own the copyright to the 1955 Egyptian film 'Sigarah wa Kas' (A Glass and a Cigarette) which features dancing by Samia Gamal.  Interestingly enough there is at least one other company who claims to own the worldwide copyright of this same movie.
I removed the offending clip yesterday, immediately on receiving the notice, but that wasn't good enough apparently and the account has been terminated.  As a result the channel and its research and information that more than 6,000,000 viewers had accessed, is now lost.
So, long story short, TheCaroVan is no more and I am now 'An individual whose account has been closed [is] prohibited from accessing, possessing or creating any other YouTube account.'
Ah well, as someone who lives in the Middle East, as you can imagine, we have one or two other things to worry about at the moment.....

We (want to) know who you are.

Some changes on YouTube this morning which I 'm guessing are in response to the film clip and the often violent response to it.  YouTube now request that you rename your channel using your 'real name' (whatever it may be today) and then ask for a reason if you do not wish to do so.
On a tangent, a worrying question that comes out of this situation is this: the arbiteurs of what is 'free speech' and what is appropriate to be out in the public domain are not the governments who are supposed to represent the wishes of the people but the privately owned media companies who represent...who? Their shareholders? Management? Do we not care as long as the profits roll in? 

Facebook and You Tube blocked in the UAE?

Happy to be proved wrong but like a lot of people in Dubai I haven't been able to access either Facebook or YouTube for 3-4 days. I assume that like Skype (see entry below) they've both now been blocked. No luck using a VPN over the weekend and today I can't even access the websites for either H.S.S. or T.C. We're with Etisalat. Friends with 'du', the other comms company here in Dubai, say they can still access Facebook and YouTube, but its "up and down". If Etisalat has barred the sites then du won't be far behind.

Here's what happens:

Facebook: the sign-in page comes up as normal, I type in my password, press enter and get bounced straight back to the sign-in page, repeat ad infinitum.

YouTube: the site comes up ok, type in subject, maybe something innocuous like "kittens playing", press enter, the little Ouroboros thing comes up in the middle of the black screen followed by the words "This video is no longer available". Also "not available" to protect the public, due to the obviously corrupting nature of the content are tips on propogating tomatoes, my own videos of John driving the Lambo, Crufts Dog Show, bellydance, pro wrestling, and even instructions on textured finishes for painted walls (for some reason this reminds me of Lister's crocheted hat and "Wall-papering, Painting, and Stippling - a DIY guide".)

If anyone's having better luck let me know.