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.

Filed Under: copyright, guidelines, user generated content
Companies: audible magic, cbs, disney, google, microsoft, myspace, nbc universal, news corp, viacom

IBM Decides Common Sense Isn't So Common In Virtual Worlds

from the if-you're-representing-IBM,-perhaps-your-avatar-shouldn't-be-a-grungy-rat dept

Just as companies are beginning to question the wisdom of spending time in Second Life, IBM has decided that perhaps part of the problem is that its employee representatives don't have enough common sense to recognize what's appropriate behavior in Second Life and other virtual worlds. The company has put together rather informal guidelines that basically sound like common sense: Don't discuss intellectual property with unauthorized people. Don't discriminate or harass. Make sure your avatar is appropriate as a representative of IBM. These are pretty much all things that would normally go without saying -- but apparently IBM felt they needed to be said (which is either a statement about IBM employees, or what IBM management thinks about IBM employees). In the meantime, Second Life is probably helping IBM and other corporations out by banning all the vices that made Second Life popular in the first place. Now it'll be safe for all the corporate types. Of course, that's about all who will be left since everyone else will have moved on to the next (more fun) world that isn't locked down with rules and swarming with marketers trying to pitch them.

Filed Under: corporate policies, guidelines, virtual worlds
Companies: ibm, second life