Now the truly important questions are going to get asked when it comes to DRM in these modern times of Web 2.0 initiatives and more user-focused services. Just how much responsibility does YouTube as the host site have in terms of managing its users? While their standing privacy policy states they will remove any copyrighted content at the request of the content owner, that puts the burden of policing the site on the content owner instead of the website administrators and owners, who also seek to gain profit from any related advertising also found on the site. This is the case that Viacom is attempting to argue.
It's hard to say how things should go. While the web is certainly full of free information supporters who will advocate that Viacom has no right to force such a decision on the larger web community, from a legal standpoint I'm sure their case holds some water at the end of the day. The content was stolen and posted illegally after all and thus the same group of people that made YouTube the wild success that it is today are ultimately the cause of the problem since they continue to post copyrighted content illegally.
YouTube is being used as more of a symbolic fight, one that will define how the web will grow within the next few years. It's not like they're the only ones responsible. Where are the lawsuits for the rest of the video-sharing sites? Those cases might be filed...eventually. Maybe. For now, this is the big fight, one that Viacom has chosen to fight since it finally has a large company to deal with (and potentially earn from), which of course is Google.
Related Links:
- CNET News.com: Viacom sues Google over YouTube clips
- CNET News.com: YouTube's fate rests on decade old copyright law
- CNET News.com: The hypocrisy about Web video
- CNET News.com: Copyright quagmire for Google and YouTube
- Google Blogoscoped: Viacom Sues Google
- Google Operating System: Viacom Sues YouTube for 1 Billion Dollars
- Googlified: Viacom to Google: Give Me Some Money
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