Date: Thursday, October 18, 2007

YouTube Tackle Internet Piracy With New Controls

After facing a number of major copyright infringement lawsuits, Google have launched a revolutionary new YouTube security system to help them stop copyrighted films and TV shows from being posted on the site.

The security system, YouTube Video Identification, has been under development for around six months but “it has taken until now to get it right,” admits David King, a YouTube product manager. Companies such as Time Warner and Disney are thought to be testing a beta version of the video identification service, which works by applying a digital ‘watermark’ to footage. Media companies must submit their TV shows or films to YouTube to have them digitally fingerprinted. After this procedure, YouTube users will be unable to upload any element of them onto the site.

Companies who will be pleased by these developments include Viacom, owners of Dreamworks and Paramount, who famously launched a $1billion lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement. Mike Fricklas, Viacom general counsel, said: “We are delighted that Google appears to be stepping up to its responsibility and ending the practice of infringement.” However, he was unable to comment on whether these new developments will affect their current legal battle.

Unfortunately, the new software will be unable to remove copyrighted material that is already on the site. To have any existing footage removed, companies will have to browse the site and report any videos they feel infringes their copyright. When they have done this, Google stress that the offending material will be removed as soon as possible. It will also be automatically watermarked using this new technology, meaning that no other user will be able to upload the clip again.

Obviously, Video Identification requires a great deal of input from media companies but as David King says, “We need them to help us help them.”

Sources:

BBC News

Guardian