On Monday 15th October Google revealed, to great interest from copyright holders, a new system to prevent piracy on its popular video sharing site YouTube. Video Identification is a filtering tool that allows companies to verify their content and make sure it is being used correctly on the site. It will give copyright holders the opportunity to choose whether to block or promote their videos, or even make money from them using ad placement.
Google says that Video Identification will provide a more effective way for copyright holders to manage the representation of their property. This will be welcome news to several large media companies, such as NBC and Viacom, who have previously expressed annoyance at what they see as the intentional reluctance of Google and YouTube to provide a technological solution to piracy within its sites. Last year, Viacom - who owns Paramount and Dreamworks, among other major media corporations - launched a $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for screening its copyrighted clips.
Many individuals have seen this kind of policing from Google as an integral part of their responsibilities in maintaining a site such as YouTube. David King, YouTube project manager, says that Video Identification goes "above and beyond" the legal responsibilities of Google. Since the inception of YouTube piracy issues have been evident and YouTube have attempted several different anti-piracy systems in the past - to limited success - but Google seems confident that with Video Identification they will regain trust from powerful media companies.
However, some concerns have already been expressed by people worried that the technology is not a comprehensive step to end the piracy issues on YouTube. Bob Tur, the first journalist to file a copyright lawsuit against YouTube, has suggested that the system is ultimately unfair because it requires users to give YouTube a copy of all of their copyrighted work.
But YouTube says that it is not unreasonable for them to ask copyrighters for this verification and maintained that it would be used for no other purpose than to safeguard the integrity of their work. Patrick Ross, executive director of the Copyright Alliance told CNN that he was concerned whether Google would offer its anti-piracy technology only to content owners who signed licensing deals favourable to YouTube. This would then put small copyright holders at a disadvantage.
Nevertheless, Google has said that this technology is available to everyone, regardless of their business relationship with the site. Time will tell how successful this new implementation will be in the fight against video piracy on YouTube, but many are pleased to see Google taking a bold step towards tackling piracy
