Copyright Law Is a Battlefield

Viacom sues Google for letting copyright-protected material slip onto YouTube. Brewster Kahle sues the federal government over a public-domain policy he considers restrictive. The recording industry sues college students -- and, some critics say, just about everyone else in sight -- for downloading music illegally. Lawsuits are the lingua franca of intellectual-property debate, and that's not likely to change any time soon, says Larry Downes.

Mr. Downes, a technology consultant and adjunct professor at the University of California at Berkeley, draws parallels between the current information wars and the Industrial Revolution -- which spurred the rise of communism and the progressive movement, both of them "rejections of a legal system that no longer functioned, and which could not adapt to changing realities."


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Why Not Leech Off of YouTube, Video Pioneers Ask

By Tim Gideon

There was nary an empty seat at Monday evening's SXSW panel entitled "What Does the Future Hold for Video on the Internet."

It opened with the moderator, Eddie Codel, producer and co-founder of Geek TV, announcing: "We have beer, we hope you do, too [sadly, I did not]. Whenever someone says the word 'paradigm', everyone drinks." This prompted an audience member to yell "paradigm", after which the rules were immediately revised. The panel consisted of Codel, Micki Krimmel of Revver, Kent Nichols from the wildly popular Ask A Ninja, Kevin Rose of Digg fame, and Scott Watson—the odd-man-out, not-so-indie rep from Disney.


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Google sees video anti-piracy tools as priority

Google Inc., racing to head off a media industry backlash over its video Web site YouTube, will soon offer anti-piracy technologies to help all copyright holders thwart unauthorised video sharing, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

YouTube, which Google acquired late last year, plans to introduce technology to help media companies identify pirated videos uploaded by users.

But, to date, the tools are only being offered as part of broader licensing talks, media industry insiders complain.

Read more on Reuters.co.uk