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Our Blogs The BeerFiles YouTube copyright filter by September? Will it matter?
Our Blogs The BeerFiles YouTube copyright filter by September? Will it matter? | YouTube copyright filter by September? Will it matter? |
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| Written by Stan Beer | |
| Sunday, 29 July 2007 | |
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Now once again Google, under attack from a triad of content producers lead by media giant Viacom, is seeking to assure the US authorities that it is doing its best to implement technology that will curb the excesses of its copyright infringing posters. Out of the other side of its mouth, however, Google continues to invoke the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), with which it says YouTube has always complied. The issue is of course that the DMCA is one the main enablers of YouTube's growth into what it is today. It is also from a major content provider's point of view totally unworkable for a site like YouTube which has so many video clips on its site and new ones posted every day. YouTube complies with the DMCA and takes down infringing videos when copyright holders complain. However, copyright infringers often simply re-post the same videos again later. For content providers it takes considerable resources to keep track of videos illegally posted to YouTube. Hence, the legal suit launched by Viacom and others, including the English Premier League. Regardless of the outcome of the court case, an issue for YouTube and its owner Google is whether putting copyright fingerprinting technology in place, could YouTube survive without all those illegal posts of episodes of Lost and music videos? Is YouTube stalling because its owners know it can't? Interesting questions to be sure. However, looking at the number of times legally posted videos that have made it to home page have been viewed suggests that YouTube is not just a refuge for copyright infringing content posters and viewers. The argument may continue to rage but the attraction of YouTube as a site to easily post amateur and semi-professional videos, as well as a site to show off legal copyrighted videos from major content providers who have struck deals with YouTube, will ensure its survival and prosperity. For Viacom and others, they will realize sooner or later that YouTube is a killer app and it's better to join them rather than spend money and resources trying to lick them.
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