YouTube AntiPiracy Policy Likened to 'Mafia Shakedown'

A C|Net article discusses reactions to YouTube's newly proposed antipiracy software policy. The company is now offering assistance for IP holders, allowing them to keep track of their content on the YouTube service ... if they sign up with the company for licensing agreements. A spokesman for Viacom (already in a fight with YouTube to take down numerous video clips) called this policy 'unacceptable', and another industry analyst likened it to a 'mafia shakedown.' YouTubes cites the challenges of determining ownership of a given video clip as the reason for this policy, and hopes that IP owners will cooperate in resolving these issues. Some onlookers also feel that these protestations are simply saber-rattling before an eventual deal: "'The debates are about negotiations more than anything else--who's going to pay whom and how much,' said Saul Berman, IBM's global media and entertainment strategy leader."

Comments

Re:So they bemoan having to pay for their enforcem

[KKlaus]

Why the hell is this modded insightful? The whole point is that they are being forced to pay someone they shouldn't have to pay for protection, how did you miss that?

I hate viacom, because I myself like to watch clips of TDS and TCR on youtube, but this is a shakedown. Corporations (at least L's like viacom) do in fact pay taxes, and they are supposed to have the protection of the law. They would have that even if they didn't pay taxes, i.e. S corporations don't suffer on that count.

So if I, a taxpayer, had to pay a local group (like say the mafia) to make sure my fence didn't get banged up or something, I shouldn't have to do that. I could hire a guard, and that may be in my best interests depending on the situation, but I shouldn't need to. Similarly, copyright ingringement, like property damage, is already against the law. Viacom shouldn't have to pay or make any agreements with another party to prevent it from occurring, and that party shouldn't say "well if you don't I'm not sure how we can help you." That's what a shakedown would is, by freaking definition.

Are we all that blinded by our anger?