The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of public interest groups today called on four television networks to stop stifling political debate on the Internet with overreaching copyright claims and proposed two measures to help YouTube protect online political speech. In an open letter sent to CBS, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Fox, and […]

The McCain/Palin campaign has found itself caught in a DMCA/Fair Use YouTube battle, after having campaign videos pulled from the site because of their use of copyrighted material. The campaign’s letter, embedded above, makes a great against the over-zealous enforcement of DMCA claims. Let’s hope that politicians getting ensnared in the DMCA/Fair Use battle will […]

Weddings aren’t all faith, love and happiness. There’s usually a bit of abject terror mixed in and something – be it the bridesmaid’s dresses, the flowers or the dj – from hell itself.  Case in point: A rivalry between two wedding podcasters has devolved into a battle to the death – at least for one […]

Google’s YouTube troubles just got kicked up a notch. Italian media company Mediaset SpA is suing YouTube and its owner, Google, for at least 500 million euros ($779 million). Mediaset claims that Google and YouTube carried out the “illegal distribution and commercial use of audio and video files,” according to a Bloomberg report: According to […]

Google’s problem with YouTube is even bigger than many thought. More than 97% of YouTube’s videos are deadweight – videos that the company can’t put ads on. According to Silicon Alley Insider’s Michael Learmonth: We know Google’s (GOOG) YouTube is a tough sell for advertisers. But video site’s sales team may be having an even […]

Google announced today that it had reached an agreement with Viacom that will avoid a media debacle over YouTube users privacy: As we let you know on July 4, YouTube received a court order to produce viewing history data. We are pleased to report that Viacom, MTV and other litigants have backed off their original […]

Google’s got a big problem with YouTube – the melting-pot nature of user-generated media.

This, along with a billion-dollar lawsuit, courtesy of Viacom, is keeping Google from making money on 96% of its content.

It’s time for Google to settle with Viacom, and get on with building a business based on what makes YouTube unique – user-generated media.

A few days ago, we suggested that YouTube Needs To Grow A Spine, arguing that YouTube needs to “unequivocally state that they will defend your right to privacy, even if that means taking this all the way to the Supreme Court”.

Now others are starting to weigh in, and it looks like we are not alone in thinking that YouTube needs to grow a spine, if not more….

Four-hour work week author and blogger Tim Ferris talked to Daniel Ellsberg about new FISA (Foreign Information and Surveillance Act) amendments that promise to let big telecommunications off the hook, retroactively, for giving the government access to spy on you without warrant, and to make this type of activity legal. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act […]

YouTube has responded to a federal court order requiring the company, as part of Viacom’s billion dollar lawsuit, to give Viacom copies of YouTube’s server log files. These log files are needed by Viacom to help it determine the extent to which YouTube has been used to distribute copyrighted content without permission. However, Viacom doesn’t […]