YouTube copyright protection system unveiled

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Yesterday YouTube unveiled YouTube Video Identification, a system designed to prevent copyrighted videos from making their way onto the site without the consent of the owner. Rather cunningly, YouTube requires that content owners send in a master copy of all their copyrighted content -- y'know, so they can cross reference it against uploads (nothing to do with Google's aim of indexing everything, ever ... no.) Any data that matches the reference data can be deleted automatically, but only if the content owner says so. According to YouTube chief counsel Zahavah Levine, there will be a way for content owners to set it up so YouTube can scan content on other servers -- removing the requirement for a master copy to be uploaded to YouTube -- although Levine said that method "would be more difficult." For who, Google, or the TV and movie studios?

[Thanks, Michelle]

 

[via] Engadget