Never Mind The Copyright Issues, YouTube Had Better Watch Out For The Politicians

from the yeah,-that-will-help dept

Fri, Oct 20th 2006 8:35am — Carlo Longino

One of the most talked about angles of Google's purchase of YouTube is what will happen in regards to all the copyrighted material on the site. YouTube's headed off some of the concerns by doing deals with record labels and other rightsholders (even giving them equity), while others are still threatening to sue. But the site might have another problem: overzealous politicians that blame it for some people's violent behavior (via Picturephoning.org). Some British politicians somehow think that YouTube and other video sites are "fuelling random acts of violence" -- because, obviously, people wouldn't commit random acts of violence unless they can record them and put the video online. Of course, they've got a track record for this, as it mimics how many people said that cameraphones should be banned because of "happyslapping" -- where morons would use their phones to film each other randomly attacking people. The problem here isn't YouTube, or cameraphones, or whatever. It's the idiots who find it entertaining to beat the crap out of people. Banning this site or that technology won't help, because as the apparent rise in popularity for YouTube for this sort of thing shows, the idiots will simply move along to whatever new thing comes out. It's as if the politicians don't understand that the people committing these acts are the criminals here that need to be stopped, not the likes of YouTube.

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15 Comments

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xxl3w, 20 Oct 2006 @ 9:41am

I don't know why.
I have no clue why I keep letting articles like this get under my skin. I'm so sick of people blaming this, blaming that. Apparently no one can be crazy or wrong anymore. I say we abolish prisons and mental wards! No one in the world is wrong anymore (by fault). They're influenced by all this rock'n'roll and bling bling. Man, Everyone in current political seats need to be pulled and jailed. We need to replace EVERYONE. The opinions/views coming from these guys are like communism, sounds great on paper, but doesn't make much sense in the real world.
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Michael, 20 Oct 2006 @ 10:05am

Overzealous and beyond
Overzealous politicians - now there's a new one. Someone on one side or the other is going to feel threatened by YouTube, with it's ever-growing presence/new owner, as well as the claims of censorship within. They will use the above "concerns" to push regulation.
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bigSteve, 20 Oct 2006 @ 10:07am

what a bunch of clowns
I think we should start a site called politicalHappySlapping.com and record videos of politicians getting the crap kicked out of them, 1 for being stupid and two for being useless. Now that would be fun!
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Dan, 20 Oct 2006 @ 10:17am

Speaking of idiots....
The jackasses in Florida who were beating up homeless people because they knew they were being recorded by security cameras. Maybe that's why people rob gas stations. I say we get rid of security cameras too.
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u no, 20 Oct 2006 @ 10:25am

right right
I agree with bigsteve. i would watch politicans get the crap kicked out of them. People bieng stupid in some cases is funny (Jackass the movie) while other times it is not (beating up homeless people. Leave being stupid to the profesional idiots and everthing will be fine.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2006 @ 10:30am

I've seen several videos of kids who filmed themselves trashing houses and the like. They would have done that whether they recorded it or not and having recorded it just makes for a quick and easy ID. If anything politicians should be encouraging YouTube.

Politicians just don't have a clue about reality (but they know how to get re-elected). This is just another smoke screen that will blow over after Nov7 or whatever.
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SK, 20 Oct 2006 @ 10:34am

Re: I don't know why.
I agree entirely. As if GW Bush hasn't destroyed our country enough. We need more political bullshit like we need a whole in our head. The world has had enough. Stop blaming everything else and start acting in the best interest of the world....not in the best interest of yourselves. Polititians are animals. They care only about themselves and how people may view them...not about fixing any real problems. We push our democratic society on 3rd world countries when we need a complete leadership overhaul ourselves. It's the peoples fault for letting these crappy political agendas get in our way.
Impeach Bush and lets not pay any interest to these ridiculas individuals. What happened to " a government by the people and FOR the people". I won't let my freedoms be taken away and will leave America behind if I must. Sorry for the rant but we are all puppets being manipulated under Bush's control. Few people want to admit this. We must stop the disease before America is another communist regime. YouTube is an entertainment service, they are not killing people. Our government does enough killing but who's shutting them down.
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dorpus, 20 Oct 2006 @ 10:40am

The Great Firewall of America?
If cool Chinese movies turn Americans too pro-Chinese, will they be outlawed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYGVcQJxoKI
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2006 @ 11:07am

Re: Re: I don't know why.
when did bush become a british politician??
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Trouble Maker, 20 Oct 2006 @ 11:30am

two cents worth
Linked to another story involving Congress,

Oh, Congress PLEASE!

My pillar of integrity..

I don’t think any Body (Assemble) should be allowed to dictate regulatory functions when they can’t even regulate themselves. (OK, I concede the fact that they regulate themselves, but they don’t enforce anything unless it has to do with their pay and benefits)

I am tired of hearing “It’s not my fault…it’s because I was mistreated as a child, or I was underprivileged, and {insert your favorite excuses here}.

Personal Responsibility, I demand it of everyone.
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Daruku, 20 Oct 2006 @ 11:34am

Victims
We are a nation that caters to victims. That is bad...
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nonewsisgoodnews, 20 Oct 2006 @ 11:36am

The blame game
The problem is that politicians are so quick to put the blame on something other than the people themselves. Why? Because if they blame the people, the people might not vote for them next election, whereas YouTube is an online service, they're not an actual entity that votes, so lets blame that.

The truth is the blame rests solely on the individuals committing the crimes (or the parents of the underaged committing them). The types that would put video of their illegal acts up on YouTube would still show video and boast to their friends of what they'd done. YouTube simply allows them to give the authorities a much better chance at finding and prosecuting them.

If politicians were really smart, they'd embrace YouTube and use it to their advantage. But, they're too worried about what people think of them and if they'll get to keep their overpaid jobs to want to upset any of their voters by telling them the truth.

I agree with SK somewhat in that we need an overhaul of our political system. However, we cannot put the blame entirely on the politicians because it is the idiots who vote for them who hold much of the blame. The majority vote for either Democrat or Republican, not on the person who would be best suited to do the job. Why people think we should have either a left wing or right wing government, and not a government who has the values of both sides just boggles my mind.

Everyone is so quick to blame something else for their wrongdoings that great technologies/services/entertainment take the hit just because nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions. And the sorry thing is, its our own fault as a society.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2006 @ 1:00pm

Re: Re: I don't know why.
Bush only has a couple years left, so until then deal with it. While I agree that he isn't the best president, there should never be any reason to impeach a president unless he gets elected through illegal means. He was voted in, he stays in.
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Bob Jones, 20 Oct 2006 @ 1:44pm

Where did George Bush and US congress find their way into a discussion of UK politicians?

Do people even understand that George Bush doesn't rule every country, or that your congressman doesn't have authority over the UK?

The UK isn't the 51st state of the US.
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xxl3w, 20 Oct 2006 @ 2:41pm

Wow
the same thing i was complaining about (the blame game). i even did it myself. i indirectly blamed politicians. well, i'm here to redeem myself. i didn't mean to put my "remove everyone from office" in this post. it sort of looks like i'm blaming politicians for the way the world is run. i'm sorry. i blame myself, for not being the angel of death and killing everyone who i think deserves to die.
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