SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube on Monday put in place software to
block the posting of pirated videos and appease content owners that
accuse the popular website of being a willing accomplice to copyright
abuses.
YouTube Video Identification is billed as an anti-piracy
platform custom built with the help of Google, which bought YouTube
last year in a 1.65 billion dollar stock deal.
Since the purchase, Google has been under fire from video owners
including entertainment giant Viacom and the English soccer league for
not doing more to stop users from posting copyrighted clips at the
website.
YouTube maintains it is adhering to US law by taking
down copyrighted material when owners complain but has been under
pressure to more vigilantly thwart the transgressions.
New York
City-based Viacom has a pending billion-dollar lawsuit against YouTube
for not blocking pirated videos from the website.
YouTube Video
Identification software put into use at the website is a test, or beta,
version that the Northern California company plans to hone.
"We
expect to hit unforeseen bumps and bottlenecks as we refine, improve,
and scale the system to meet everyone's needs," YouTube product manager
David King and partner development manager Glenn Brown said in a
posting at the company's website.
The system allows copyright
holders to automatically identify their content at YouTube then block
or promote the videos, or join forces with YouTube to make revenue with
advertising.
"We have worked with Google to develop one-of-a-kind
technology that can recognize videos based on a variety of factors,"
King and Brown said in the joint posting.
"Video Identification is brand-new, cutting-edge stuff. Early tests with content companies have shown very promising results."
In
order to get material protected at YouTube the owners of copyrights
must provide enough information from videos for digital "fingerprints"
to check against postings by users.
"No matter how accurate the
tools get, it is important to remember that no technology can tell
legal from infringing material without the cooperation of the content
owners themselves," Brown and King said in the posting.
"The best
we can do is cooperate with copyright holders to identify videos that
include their content and offer them choices about sharing that
content."
It remains to be seen whether video copyright owners will be satisfied with YouTube's antidote for piracy.
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