Studios Unveil Meaningless 'Guidelines' For User Content Sites

from the audible-magic-full-employment-agreement dept

There's a lot of talk about the new "guidelines" that were announced today mainly by the big television studios, along with a few smaller players in the online video space. The press coverage highlights two things: this is a big deal and it's notable that Google didn't agree to join. I'm not sure either thing is really true. Reading through the actual principles, about the only thing that's noteworthy is how pointless they are. If anything, they're basically a "full employment for Audible Magic" document in that they require companies to install the type of filters that Audible Magic is selling (though, it's still questionable how well they work). There are some totally meaningless statements about supporting fair use, but no details on how that's actually to be done. In other words, these principles are basically "everyone should install filters that block unauthorized content and... uh... the content companies will remain aware that fair use sort of exists sometimes." That's somewhat meaningless. Google's reason for not joining, even though it has come up with its own filters, is that it doesn't see why it should agree to stand by any specific guidelines that go above and beyond what the law requires, as there could be conditions under which such guidelines hold back necessary innovation. The bigger point, though, is how truly meaningless these guidelines are. If those guidelines are truly effective in stopping some unauthorized content on these sites, that content (and many users) will simply migrate elsewhere. In other words, it won't stop that unauthorized use of content and it won't help any of the companies that have agreed to the principles. That means that the impact of such things is likely to be pretty much nil.
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Filed Under: copyright, guidelines, user generated content
Companies: audible magic, cbs, disney, google, microsoft, myspace, nbc universal, news corp, viacom


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  1. identicon
    T.J., 18 Oct 2007 @ 7:37pm

    Go Google

    Google is an excellent example of a consumer oriented business model. They grew from nowhere to huge in only a matter a years, and their stock is worth more than $600. Maybe if these studios looked at Google as an example of a great business model, instead of an evil-doer, they would be getting a lot more viewers. It's reasons like this that makes me like Google.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Frenchy Frog, 18 Oct 2007 @ 8:19pm

    Re: Go Google

    Amen!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Googled Again, 18 Oct 2007 @ 10:53pm

    Here Here to that

    I fully agree that useless filters that do nothing more than pad someone(s) pocketbook are not the way to go. This makes me even more a believer of Google than I was before. Three Cheers for Google!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    YAY US!, 18 Oct 2007 @ 11:02pm

    Profound crap

    Big TV studios: "Yay!! We're fantastic! We have no idea why.. Just believe us! Go us! We're FAAAABulous!"

    Public at large: "Yeah whatever.. just GO please."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Debunked, 19 Oct 2007 @ 6:11am

    WSJ Coverage

    Read the WSJ article in 10/19/2007 print edition to see that Mike has left out several important details in his above coverage.

    Mike quote:
    ..."along with a few smaller players in the online video space."

    Nice characterization of players like Microsoft (MSNBC), Walt Disney, Fox online, Veoh and MySpace- yeah a "few smaller players".

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    ProphetBeal, 19 Oct 2007 @ 8:30am

    Re: WSJ Coverage

    His comment was directed at video-sharing sites Dailymotion and Veoh Networks. Disney and Fox fall the under TV studio category; while MySpace and MS also fall into that category, but for other reasons. MySpace is owned my News Corp (who also own Fox) and MS is in bed with NBC (hence MSNBC).

    link to this | view in thread ]


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