YouTube Puts On A Piracy Band-Aid

from the take-the-long-way dept

Wed, Mar 29th 2006 1:26pm — Carlo Longino

In an attempt to cut down on the large number of videos on its site that violate copyrights, YouTube says it's now instituted a ten-minute limit for most uploads, in addition to its previous 100 MB cap. The company says that the vast majority of videos in its library that were over 10 minutes were copyrighted TV shows and movies, and that it's trying to strike a balance on holders' copyrights. It's a pretty simple and quick way to try to cut down on people posting copyrighted movies and shows, but all it really does is make piracy slightly more difficult, not make it impossible -- which, when you think about it, is sort of how DRM works. Except YouTube's solution doesn't come with all the ancillary BS that accompanies most copy-protection schemes. The bigger underlying question for YouTube, though, is that by making friends with TV networks and movie studios, will it be making enemies of its user base? That seems doubtful, as much of the viral videos that have made it so popular will fly under the 10-minute radar, copyright-infringing or not. This is a pretty smart solution that should eliminate the worst of the problem for YouTube, but allow it to keep most of the materials it holds that make it so popular.

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16 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 29 Mar 2006 @ 2:57pm

how many 2 minute long stupid lip syncing videos does the world need?
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cinemaguy, 29 Mar 2006 @ 3:22pm

Kramkoob.com
Apparantly a lot of them. haha.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Mar 2006 @ 5:10pm

you can just split the file with winrar into a 100 pieces and theres the movie while at the same time they get the mpaa or whoever to back off,
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Arochone, 29 Mar 2006 @ 5:43pm

To google video!
What about stuff that's longer and legit? Like that video for that Spore game.
All I can say is: To google video!
"We're accepting digital video files of any length and size."
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Ben McNelly, 29 Mar 2006 @ 5:46pm

I agree...
This is a good example of a postive step without taking away a huge chunk of freedom. I expect we will se great ideas like this spring alot in the near future, to continue the leaning scale towards change in the entertainment industry coppyright crap.
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jdragon, 29 Mar 2006 @ 7:07pm

try livedigital.com
I like it better than youN00b.com
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Anon E Mouse, 29 Mar 2006 @ 10:46pm

all it really does is make piracy slightly more difficult, not make it impossible -- which, when you think about it, is sort of how DRM works.

Uh.... HELLO!!!! That's all ANY security does. No security is 100% foolproof. All good security works by slowing down those trying to subvert it. Idiots will be slowed down to a stop. The hope is that the smart people will be slowed down enough that the security system can react and either move what's being guarded, adjust security protocols to make the attackers start over again or instigate a counterattack to identify or otherwise negate the attackers.
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Jamie, 30 Mar 2006 @ 7:09am

Predict this will satify no one
The way I see it, this isn't going to solve Youtube's problem. The TV/Movie industry has made it very clear that they don't care how short the clip is. They feel that they should get paid for every time someone watches their content.
As an example, look at the highly publisized clips that have been pulled recently. In each of those cases, it was proved that the clip was actually helping the show(indirectly generating revenue), but since it wasn't directly generating cash(no payment for each watcher) the industry forced it to be pulled.
All this is going to do, is make the YouTube users upset. It certainly won't make the TV/Movie industry happy. So no one wins.
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Anonymous, 30 Apr 2006 @ 9:24pm

Please don't use phrases like "strike a balance" to refer to the rights of the general public and the temporary rewards given to copyright holders. No balance whatsoever should exist between copyright holders and the general public. Copyright exists solely to make a tradeoff between two different goals of the general public: having more works, and having more works in the public domain to do with as they wish. Rewarding copyright holders to some degree will sometimes advance the first goal (though not always), and will always hinder the second goal. "striking a balance" implies that rewarding copyright holders should have some relevance or consideration as a goal in itself, which it does not; rewarding copyright holders serves solely as a means to an end. Please see Misinterpreting Copyright for more information.
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Hanyou, 3 May 2006 @ 8:56pm

When there is a will ... there is a way. Just split the movie/TV into segments a little shorter than 10mins and voila. Being an avid user of Youtube to get my anime every week, I really dislike what Youtube is doing. I realize they have that legal obligation ... but it doesn't make me despise them for making obtaining my anime harder.
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manunited4eva, 11 May 2006 @ 7:30pm

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YouTube Rules!, 1 Aug 2006 @ 8:02pm

youtube allows us to put whatever we want on it so i say PUT MORE SHOWS ON!!! you cant just say" oh i feel like watching that episode of that show right now" and turn it on the tv. it allows you to watch what you want when you want to.. go after the places the people are getting the stuff from that end up on youtube. this is a problem that will never end and im all for sharing of clips so HA!!
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bob, 1 Aug 2006 @ 8:03pm

i agree with him
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peni, 4 Oct 2006 @ 11:19pm

so do i
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mance graves jr, 24 Feb 2008 @ 12:05pm

future audio/videoreleases
i am interested in any and all current information on how to be successfully compensated for any future releases to youtube or any other site that i find attractive and suitable to promote my cd album, "tree of life". i submitted two discs, "freelove" and "son II", but have yet to be compensated, even though the distributor, cdbaby, has advertised and linked it out to thousands of websites. please allow thirty days for an email response, and if you like, i can be reached at p.o. box 2825, macon, georgia, 31203, or 14789982939. your cooperation will be greatly appreciated.
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