The War Against Online Video Sharing Sites

I was one of the biggest YouTube supporters in the early days of the online video sharing site. I use to spend hours surfing through videos, catching clips of my favorite shows, reliving some great memories, and spotting clips of shows that friends said I should watch. I thought it was one of the most entertaining sites to hit the Internet in quite some time…until Viacom and other content owners started requesting take down notices.

The issue of copyright is one that I can relate to both sides of the fight. I am a content generator, aside from this blog, and can understand why some people may issues with how their content is used. For me, it depends on the context of the person who’s using my content. I tend to get really testy about people who plagiarize my words or pass off something that I created as their own. Otherwise, I don’t get hot and bothered about people sharing my content; I see it as free publicity and a credit to my work. Unfortunately, many content owners don’t see that.

Content owners don’t seem to grasp the concept that clips posted on online video sharing sites are free promotion and boosts TV ratings. I see nothing wrong with people posting clips on YouTube and other video sharing sites. If they’re like me, they watch the clips online, and if it’s a show/movie they really like, they will watch it on TV or pay for the content via video download services or DVD. Of course, I realize some will go straight to the Pirate Bay or other torrent sites, but that’s a whole other discussion. Still, video clips posted on online video sites are more likely to help content owners rather than hurt them, but most of us realize take down notices are all about flexing their strict control over content. It’s just a good old fashion war between new media vs. old media and copyright dictators vs. Creative Commons supporters.

What I do know is that this fight is wearing thin for me and is shaping up to turn into another Metallica vs. Napster fight that will slow down video on the web. One would think the TV and film industry learned a lesson from the music industry’s fight against digital media but obviously not. Some people are just hardheaded…or just idiots. Hmmm, maybe both.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 29th, 2007 at 9:29 pm and is filed under Commentary, Life, Play, The Machine, Web 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.