YouTube hands over pirates' details to Fox

by Adam Turner

Wednesday, 14 February 2007

The identity of a YouTube user who uploaded entire episodes of Fox drama "24" before they were broadcast has been handed over to Fox in response to a District Court subpoena.

20th Century Fox Television has confirmed both YouTube-owner Google and fellow video-sharing site Live Digital complied with subpoenas and disclosed to Fox the details of individuals who uploaded episodes of "24" and "The Simpsons", reports Internet News.

The first four episodes of this season's "24" were available on YouTube and LiveDigital a week before they first went to air in the U.S. - highlighting the struggle television networks and movie houses face against piracy.

The news comes as Google strikes a deal with Digital Music Group to host more than 4000 hours of classic television shows including "I Spy" and "Gumby". As part of the DMG deal, YouTube will use filters to block users from uploading videos containing songs for which DMG controls the rights.

YouTube is struggles to satisfy media groups demanding it pull down copyrighted material. Viacom recently demanded YouTube remove more than 100,000 video clips after the two firms failed to reach a distribution deal. YouTube will also post warnings in Japanese against uploading copyrighted materials after negotiations with a leading Japanese copyright lobby group.{moscomment}

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