Google YouTube and Copyright

Everyone is aghast that YouTube and in relationship Google is going to start filtering for copyrighted content at the source, or at the time of upload. Much like MySpace and other groups who do the very same thing, it is an easier way of ensuring that copyrighted content does not end up on YouTube. Here is the rub on this, with the proliferation of other delivery systems, YouTube has been much so been relegated into the “maybe later” route while systems not based in the USA take on the role of delivering the worlds media, copyrighted content included.

So while the major media sources fiddle around with content filters, lawsuits, “claim your content” and a host of other ways of ensuring that media does not get on the web, little known, but wonderful sites with tons of content culled from the internet simply run, deliver media, and then move on. They have no headlines, few if any reviews, and well known in smaller communities like the BitTorrent community, or classic peer to peer communities.

Don Dodge asks the really good question:

What if the copyright filter system actually works? Will YouTube be interesting if there is no “good” content? How many videos of college kids drinking and dancing will you watch? Will the power users bother to upload music and video if they can’t put up the good stuff? Will YouTube viewers care about watching it? Source: Don Dodge

If you look at the top videos on YouTube it is a scary collection of videos from soft core porn, to people impersonating George Bush. In other words, dull. If you go to other streaming media sites, you can watch what you really wanted to watch, which was last nights episode of your favorite show that you missed for one reason or another.

Generally, we use these systems to catch up on TV that we want to see. We don’t want to pay for it, wouldn’t mind advertising on the web site as long as it didn’t interfere with the essential activity of watching the show we missed last night. And copyright is copyright, a system that much like Governor Tarken and Darth Vader keep on trying to put their hands around it, while all the streaming media sites continually pop up. Just like they did with P2P, and just like they did with Bittorrent, and just like, they will do with the next big delivery model when streaming TV falls over to new technology.

That is the next big question, where will copyright and users meet. So far it has been in the courtroom and few if any are happy about that. They need to meet someplace else.