Federal Officials and YouTube Nearing a Deal

GovTechGuy writes "The federal government is on the verge of reaching an agreement with YouTube that would allow agencies to make official use of the popular video-sharing service. A coalition of federal agencies led by the General Service Administration's Office of Citizen Services has been negotiating with Google, YouTube's parent company, since summer 2008 on new terms that would allow agencies to establish their own channels on the site. Agencies have not been [allowed] to post videos to YouTube (although many already have) because under the current terms of service, people who post content are subject to their state's libel laws. Federal agencies must adhere to federal law. On Tuesday, government officials said the negotiations were 'very close' to being completed."

Comments

Oh joy

[rockNme2349]

Wait, you mean it will be like C-Span, but whenever i want? I don't know if youtube has the bandwidth.

Re:Oh joy

[nsolon]

Wait, you mean it will be like C-Span, but whenever i want? I don't know if youtube has the bandwidth.

Believe it or not, that site already exists. http://cspanjunkie.org/

Not Engrish

[fm6]

Agencies have not been able to post videos to YouTube (although many already have) because, under the current terms of service, people who post content is subject to their state's liable laws.

I notice this story has already been tagged "Engrish". But the submitter's issue is not so much poor ESL (I think he might even be a native speaker!) as poor self expression. They can't but they already have? What do the "liable laws" have to do with this?

You know, since the editors never do any actual editing, maybe it's time to call them something else.

Re:Not Engrish

[Ian Alexander]

You know, since the editors never do any actual editing, maybe it's time to call them something else.

I already do. However, it's not polite so I won't repeat it here. ;)

In bed with Google

[basementman]

Why does the federal government need an official video channel anyway? They should post their public domain videos on their own site and allow others to distribute them to youtube, liveleak, hulu etc. Giving youtube favoritism just adds to Google's ever growing monopoly, even if they generally act ethically. The idea of having a incredibly powerful company like google, essentially get humped by the federal government worries me.

Re:In bed with Google

[British]

I think I might know why: They(99% of the time) can handle the bandwidth. Any link aggregator site like fark, or even here posts a video, the website can't handle it after an hour. YouTube always rises to the video sharing occasion. YouTube now becomes a really big TV channel with lots of programs.

Re:In bed with Google

[TooMuchToDo]

If the comments are anything like what is currently on YouTube, I very much hope they nuke those comments from orbit.

Comments/Ratings policy, propaganda

[Anonymous Coward]

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (the "this is your brain on drugs" people) have been known to post their propaganda ads on YouTube. Once they discovered that the user ratings on it and user comments were not to their liking, they disabled ratings and comments. First Amendment, anyone?

If the Federal agencies post the public's content on YouTube, Google needs to require public comments and ratings, for the sake of the public interest and the free flow of information. Wherever the Feds go, the public goes there with them. This is the only American thing to do.

Be ready for Microsoft's complaint

[bogaboga]

And I will support Microsoft in its complaint if it ever materializes. Why should my tax dollars be used to purposefully enrich a private corporation? Microsoft no longer gets the limelight. Was there any bidding done in order to select YouTube? What's wrong with our public officials? I wonder what Steve Ballmer is thinking right now.