YouTube Expected to Filter Content
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By Elise Ackerman, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  Feb. 23--Google is set to start filtering videos and other content on  YouTube for copyrighted materials, taking a key step in helping the online  video-sharing site comply with one of the biggest complaints it faces --  rampant piracy.
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(InfoWorld) - A broad group of companies and associations covering most of the Japanese entertainment industry is calling on YouTube to be more proactive in policing its Web site for copyrighted material. In a letter sent Monday to YouTube Chief Executive Officer Chad Hurley and Chief Technology Officer Steve Chen, the group requests YouTube start a system that proactively identifies and removes copyrighted material rather than making rights holders find it and send in complaints. "Taking into account the current status of your service, we believe that your company should not just wait for rights owners to take the 'Notice and Take down' procedures but should bear the responsibility to prevent, in advance, copyright infringements such as illegal uploads and distributions, or to avoid those infringements," said the letter, a copy of which was distributed to media Tuesday by the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC). Monday's letter is signed by JASRAC and 22 other organizations including the Motion Picture Producers' Association of Japan, the Japan Video Software Association, the Association of Japanese Animations, all of the major commercial TV broadcasters, the Japan Satellite Broadcasting Association, the Recording Industry Association of Japan, and Yahoo Japan Corp. It comes a month and a half afterÂ YouTube deleted 29,549 filesÂ based on a complaint filed by JASRAC. The association said the files in question infringed on the rights of 23 Japanese content companies. Neither that complaint or YouTube's action didn't stop users uploading content to the site, and plenty of clips from Japanese TV shows can again be found on YouTube. "We are seriously concerned about the current situation where the Notice and Takedown scheme, aimed [at preventing] copyright infringements, is not functioning well due to the large amount of illegal uploads," the letter said. "While we expect you to promptly take adequate and necessary measures to prevent copyright infringement on the YouTube Web site, until you do so, we request you to take provisional measures ... in order to prevent illegal uploads of audio-visual works, which copyrights are neither owned by the persons posting the works on the Web site themselves nor licensed by the right owners." The preventative measures requested by the group include the posting of a message in Japanese on the YouTube home page warning that posting copyrighted material can be illegal; that users may be liable to civil or criminal prosecution; and a register of names and addresses of users posting content and the termination on-request of user accounts that are used or have been used since June 2006 illegally to upload copyrighted material. The group also requests a reply to the letter by Dec. 15. YouTube could not be immediately reached for comment. Â
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. hopes to bank on the popularity of online video-sharing services such as YouTube and Google Video with its own competitive service, which goes into beta on Tuesday. Soapbox on MSN Video, which will allow users to upload and share personal videos with others who use the service, is now available as a beta release in the U.S. for the Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox browsers. The service initially is available by invitation-only, though users who want to take part in the beta can sign up for a waiting list at http://soapbox.msn.com Like competing video-sharing services, Soapbox will allow users not only to upload videos to the Web in almost any digital video format, but also to tag and categorize them so other users can find them. The service will let users both watch videos and browse for new ones simultaneously on the same screen, something that differentiates it from YouTube, Microsoft said. Other features in Soapbox include the ability for users to set up RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds for videos in which they are interested, and to embed videos directly into their personal blogs. To achieve the latter, Microsoft eventually will set up one-click integration between Soapbox and Windows Live Spaces, letting users upload videos from Soapbox to their Windows Live Spaces pages by clicking on a button. Eventually, Soapbox will be integrated throughout many of Microsoft's online services, which include Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail. The Soapbox service will work with IE 6 or later browsers running on Windows XP, and the Firefox 1.0.5 browser or later running on Windows XP or Macintosh OS X. Social networking services and media-sharing communities are becoming all the rage with the current breed of Web users, with sites like YouTube and the online community MySpace -- which generate revenue through advertising -- steadily gaining in popularity. However, though these sites are increasingly becoming part of the pop-culture zeitgeist, but they are so far unproven financially. Like its other Web-based services, Microsoft aims for Soapbox, too, to generate revenue by luring online advertisers, the company said. Though it won't be ad supported in its initial release, Microsoft hopes the service will feature advertising down the line.
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By CARL FREIRE TOKYO - Popular video-sharing Web site YouTube Inc. has agreed to post Japanese language warnings about respecting copyrights in an attempt to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials, a Japanese entertainment body said.
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The popular online hangout MySpace said Monday it will experiment with a video-filtering system designed to block clips containing copyright materials
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Monday night's Democratic debate will be the first in which all the questions have been submitted by YouTube users. Here's a selection of 10 you probably won't see
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In a trend that could be a boon for YouTube, more U.S. residents say they are going online to watch videos, films and TV shows, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive
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YouTube plans to introduce technology to help media companies identify pirated videos uploaded by users.
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Popular video-sharing Web site YouTube Inc. has agreed to post Japanese language warnings about respecting copyrights in an attempt to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials, a Japanese entertainment body said.
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Google's video-sharing site launches country-specific YouTube sites.
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U.S. media company Viacom Inc. has told YouTube to pull all video clips of its programming, including MTV and Comedy Central, from the Web site, Viacom says.  Viacom said Friday it had failed to reach a distribution deal with YouTube despite months of negotiations.
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The popular online hangout MySpace said Monday it will experiment with a video-filtering system designed to block clips containing copyright materials.
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Web sites with user-generated content have an obligation to deploy &quot;state of the art&quot; filtering technology to prevent the unauthorized posting of copyright material, a group of large broadcasting and Web companies said Thursday.The companies, including Microsoft, MySpace, CBS, and video site Dailymotion, call on other social-networking and user-generated content sites to regularly use filtering technology to remove infringing content. Those sites should develop procedures for addressing copyright infringement claims, and they should upgrade the filtering technology regularly, the companies said.Those principles were part of a set of guidelines the companies released Thursday. The guidelines were designed to help Web sites work with copyright owners on the &quot;collective goal of bringing more content to more consumers through legitimate channels,&quot; the companies said.The guidelines came out two days after YouTube parent Google announced the availability of a test version of&#160;filtering technology to keep copyright works off the popular video-sharing site. Media conglomerate Viacom, which has&#160;targeted YouTube with frequent video take-down notices, is one of the companies that signed on to the copyright use principles.The principles &quot;provide a framework for intellectual property to live in harmony with technical advances,&quot; Philippe Dauman, Viacom&#39;s president and CEO, said in a statement. &quot;These principles will enable innovative technology and great content to come together to spur greater innovation and, most importantly, much richer entertainment experiences for consumers.&quot;Spokesmen for YouTube didn&#39;t respond to a request for comments on the principles.However, Public Knowledge, a group promoting consumer rights online, called the YouTube filtering technology a &quot;sad development.&quot;&quot;It&#39;s a shame that Google was pressured by the entertainment industry into devoting resources to a limited system that could restrict the free flow of information while increasing the control content companies have over otherwise lawful uses of material,&quot; Public Knowledge president Gigi B. Sohn said by e-mail.The YouTube Video Identification Database is designed to match images posted on YouTube with material submitted by copyright holders. The default option will block a video that a copyright holder claims is unauthorized, but this default will limit consumers&#39; fair use rights to post video for purposes such as commentary and criticism, Public Knowledge said.&quot;While Google should be commended for its effort, we don&#39;t think that any automated process will be able to determine whether a consumer&#39;s fair use rights are being violated,&quot; Sohn said. &quot;Google should make certain the system balances public rights with the rights of content companies.&quot;But the companies supporting the copyright principles said filtering technology is necessary because the ease of uploading video content on the Internet has resulted in the proliferation of uploaded content that infringes copyright works.The principles are an &quot;important step forward in establishing the Internet as a great platform for video content -- a platform that allows services to innovate and preserves incentives for all creators, big and small, by respecting copyright,&quot; Steve Ballmer, Microsoft&#39;s CEO, said in a statement.
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Monday night's Democratic debate will be the first in which all the questions have been submitted by YouTube users. Here's a selection of 10 you won't see
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YouTube is set to announce a partnership with the BBC to create two entertainment channels and one news channel on YouTube.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O will start   testing on Tuesday an Internet video-sharing service called   Soapbox, the software company's answer to Web sensation   YouTube.
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YouTube is expected to launch a form of advertising on some of its video clips today, employing a user-controlled method that is gaining ground as marketers and Web sites look for ways to make money while keeping viewers engaged.