Video clips of Saddam Hussein’s execution have been published to YouTube, Google Video and other video sharing sites. The grainy, poorly-filmed footage is a chilling example of the state of user-created media.

“We won’t pass judgement on those that want to see the clip, but what’s becoming abundantly clear is that information can no longer be suppressed Рwith cameraphones, video-sharing sites and thousands of independent bloggers, not to mention the social filters and rating systems that help us find the most interesting content, this media will always become available online,” notes Pete Cashmore at Mashable!.

While an argument can be made that the execution footage has news value, it seems that there’s a strong likelihood that other, less newsworthy footage of death, torture and sadism are now more likely to be distributed via video sharing sites. The scandal that the United States faced over Abu Ghraib could be easily be dwarfed by camera phone footage of similar incidents.

YouTube and other sharing sites are likely to make changes to adapt to more graphic content, but it’s clear already that without massive changes, it will be impossible to keep the sites from being used to distribute videos that are more graphic and potentially disturbing than ever shown on television.

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