New Programs Fight GooTube Copyright Battle

PreacherTom writes "The specter hanging over GooTube for the past several months has been the issue of copyright infringement: will lawsuits eventually kill the $1.5 billion deal? In response, a vanguard of software developers is aiming to turn the tide on filtering copyrighted material — and their handiwork is expected to hit the market in the coming months. One example would be Audible Magic, a 'fingerprinting program' for video released a few days ago that promises to use peculiarities of recording and editing to tag and identify forbidden material." From the article: "Other outfits promise releases in the next few months as well, as they expect the video authentication market to be many times larger than the market for software that safeguards music copyrights. Just how much money is there in such filtering software? The market is at its inception, so estimates are hard to come by. But revenue from user-generated content sites should reach $850 million by 2010, up from $80.6 million this year, according to In-Stat. Software makers are eager to tap into such growth rates."

Comments

Audio fingerprints should be easily to defeat

[jmagar.com]

What are the tolerances on an audio fingerprint? Will a few passes through the analog hole mess it up enough? what about simple, pitch, or tempo adjustments which are near undetectable to the human ear. (apologies to audiophiles who certainly would be able to detect these things, but in most cases the common masses would accept the slight imperfections)

My point is that there is a will, so somebody will find a way...

Universal will still sue youtube

[jwilcox154]

They just simply don't care whether or not Youtube can filter every piece of audio.

My prediction is they will sue for the simple fact they did commit copyright violations by allowing the clips to even exist. When Youtube eventually decides to settle, Universal will continue with the lawsuit simply to make an example out of them. Afterwards Universal will purchase Youtube to simply bury them.

Universal has done this before with mp3.com and I think they will do it again with Youtube.