The Dollar Factory

YouTube video kicks pirates

Google has unrolled a new video filtering technology for finding and removing videos posted on YouTube in violation of copyright laws. Until now, finding copyrighted material rested entirely on the shoulders of copyright holders who had to find the videos and then file paperwork asking Google to remove them. The new technology will give owners the ability to fingerprint videos such that they can automatically be detected and removed. A twist to this allows the copyright holders to monetize these videos via Google’s advertising programs opting to leave the videos live on the site as opposed to removing them.

On the downside, TV and movie studios have to prepare digital versions of their products and make them available to YouTube to use for comparison with user uploaded videos; this step is necessary for detecting the copyrighted material. So, it may still take a while before all copyrighted video clips are removed and I am certain that some probably never will.

The question now is, do pirates really care about this development? Probably not. YouTube is not the best place to upload the latest movie because of restrictions on the size and length of uploaded video. There are many alternative video hosting sites that have no such basic limitations while at the same time lack the manpower to check every video. In addition, there are numerous video sites currently under development in China that seem to have no problem hosting much of the same material that YouTube is striving to prevent from reaching its servers.

In other words, piracy will continue and these filtering tools will have little to no effect. What the TV, movie and music industries have to focus on is figuring out a way to monetize their products using the new distribution medium known as the Internet. I mean, honestly, how much longer before they realize that the old distribution channels are no longer relevant and that their industry is slowly dying because of its inability to adapt?