Has YouTube finally been caught allowing copyrighted content? This post on XBiz made me think so. In the major lawsuit Viacom has against YouTube (in a case that’s dragged on for years now) they saw some online reports how show that YouTube has been exposed as having emails indicating they were ignoring some copyrighted content. YouTube’s case all along has been “there’s so much content we can’t be expected to police it all”. Sure they can’t. As the article also points out, YouTube has always seemed to have the ability to remove adult content with surgical precision within minutes – but they can’t find music videos or the latest clips from Lost or The Tonight show? They can find boobs but not Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
The thing I find funniest about this is what kind of battle this is. Every media company should strike a deal with YouTube and just license that shit for public viewing and be done with it. It’s just pissing match now, because it’s not about “copyrighted content” or “pirated video” at all. It’s about where the videos are shown, and who benefits from it. I mean, the companies partnered with Hulu.com have an “exclusive arrangement” and won’t be allowed to also strike a deal on YouTube.
YouTube because popular because it was viral and anyone could publish WTF they wanted. The most engaging content and funniest shit rose to the top. Now it’s just a site awash in ads and fat kids dancing to Britney Spears hoping to become famous at school when they fall down and break the coffee table to bits. YouTube jumped the shark as the new “Funniest Home Videos” for the web. I hate to say it, these lawsuits may just drag on for years, but you can’t tell me (now) that YouTube (owned by google) will win. YouTube knows what the top searches and pageviews are daily – and they know that allowing people to upload TV and movie clips is wrong – but they’re not going to stop what keeps them successful for the masses. The video of the dog dragging his ass across the carpet to wipe off a poop nugget is funny, but 1,000 times more people will google Lady Gaga’s performance on the last Saturday Night Live episode. Sorry YouTube, we love you (and your content) but you just can’t put your head in the sand anymore and make us believe you can’t find the content (that legally isn’t allowed to be there) and filter it out. Everybody knows what you’re doing…
