Earlier this week, YouTube received a letter from the John McCain – Sarah Palin duo, complaining about the DMCA takedown notices that, surprisingly for them, also meant pulling out political videos, which they believed were essential for the YouTube users to see.

While the two understood the reasons for complying with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, they seemed puzzled by the fact that they will have to wait for at least 10 days for the videos to be reposted on the site, if they prove not to violate copyright.

Furthermore, McCain’s letter also wrote that the political videos being removed were in agreement with fair-use, and that the American people should not be deprived of them, especially with presidential elections coming up.

The videos McCain talked about were footages of news broadcasts, which copyright owners reserved the right to claim. The presidential candidate however believes they were too short, factual, and did not affect the allegedly infringed works, and therefore, they shouldn't have been taken down.

Special treatment for political videos? YouTube didn’t seem to share the same views with McCain, and responded in a letter that while they agree that political videos are an essential part of the presidential campaign, they also believe equality is important.

“We try to be careful not to favor one category of content on our site over others, and to treat all of our users fairly, regardless of whether they are an individual, a large corporation or a candidate for public office,” YouTube's response letter writes.

Unfortunately for McCain, his campaign will have to go on without those YouTube videos. Furthermore, YouTube’s answer is only fair, it is not “silencing the political speech” as McCain’s letter said, but it complies with a set of rules that everyone submits to. Why should political videos be treated differently?