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Cost of Pre-Screening All YouTube Content: US$37 Billion

Fluffeh writes "The folks that push 'Anti-Piracy' and 'Copying is Stealing' seem to often request that Google pre-screens content going up on YouTube and of course expect Google to cover the costs. No-one ever really asks the question how much it would cost, but some nicely laid out math by a curious mind points to a pretty hefty figure indeed. Starting with who to employ, their salary expectations and how many people it would take to cover the 72 hours of content uploaded every minute, the numbers start to get pretty large, pretty quickly. US$37 billion a year. Now compare that to Google's revenue for last year."

23 of 345 comments (clear)

  1. Simple by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google only need to send the bill to the RIAA. And only do the job if the RIAA pay.

    --
    Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
  2. Retarded analysis by rgbrenner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The article says only judges are qualified to screen content, and the average judge in Silicon Valley gets paid $177,454

    So let's see:
    1) Judges are not required. You can TRAIN people.
    2) and those people you train can be ANYWHERE -- including INDIA where Facebook's screeners are
    3) and those Indian screeners definitely do NOT expect $177,000/year
    4) and you can use software to help screen content, which Youtube already does to block content it has removed from being re-uploaded.

    The article did get one thing right: the analysis is absurd

  3. Re:Judges are necessary by rgbrenner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Youtube is not the court system, it is not there to enforce your rights, it is not there to decide what is fair use, and it's judgement does not need to stand up to Supreme Court analysis.

    Youtube is for posting videos which Google can use to display ads.

    That's it. Nothing else.

    If Youtube wants to screen content, then they can train their employees to delete what they find unacceptable.

  4. Re:How do they filter porn then? by Roobles · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think it's because a significant subset of users would automatically flag porn, but not many flag copyrighted material.

  5. Re:Crowdsource the effort by Sarten-X · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That poster on the wall behind the baby is copyrighted, so posting the video is infringement. Since the baby is repeating words from a copyrighted TV show, that's another violation. The hardwood floor the baby's sitting on was artistically arranged by the construction crew, and its artistic value must be preserved! While the baby's showing off his brilliance, a delivery man rings the doorbell, which plays a two-note sequence that's also used in a song from 1953, so that's another infringement.

    With so many infringements of copyright, the violations are obviously willful, and the poster should be sued.

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  6. Re:This argument goes not support youtube by Sniper98G · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So your argument here, is that poisoning and killing people is the same as copyright infringement?

  7. Re:Well, if you pay people 100k a year to do it... by ArcherB · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well the software is pretty trivial, the huge database of songs to analyze and the results to compare to are not.

    If only Google were good at databases and analytics. Think they could hire a company that is good at such things?

    Actually, I don't think it's Google's responsibility at all. If Sony thinks they own a claim to a video posted on YouTube, then it's up to Sony to find it and report it to Google.

    --
    There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
  8. Re:Crowdsource the effort by Tanktalus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I bet that if there were no DCMA laws, YouTube would allow anyone to flag copyright violations. But, because RIAA/MPAA fought so hard for this law, YouTube needs to cover its arse by actually following the letter of the law.

  9. Re:Judges are necessary by cpu6502 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It isn't hate speech.
    It's the girl sharing her OPINION on same-sex marriage, and backing-it-up with a citation from a 4000 year old book (Leviticus if I recall correctly). - Or - have we taken-away that right to share our opinions? Is that now verboten, simply because we don't like the opinion? And how does that justify youtube leaving up the death threat videos targeted at this young woman? Those should be pulled too.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  10. Re:Judges are necessary by causality · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So because Hate speech is in her holy book youtube should keep it up? What if I make a new holy book filled with hate speech about cpu6502 should youtube keep that video? I fail to see what book it was that contained this vile speech has to do with it.

    Can you not see the difference between speech that targets a whole group vs 1 person?

    What kind of mental gymnastics must one perform to excuse this kind of blatant hypocrisy?

    If curtailing "hate speech" is your goal then you don't care what kind of hatred it is. Certainly if your respect for others' creeds and religions is so low that you will brand them "hate speakers" merely for quoting a religion's holy book, that may not have been read with an emotion of hatred ... how do you then allow emotionally charged insults and death threats without recognizing that these contain hatred? Do you believe death threats are an act of love?

    Personally I believe in free speech. That goes also for speech I think is reprehensible. Disallowing threats and slander/libel is a good balance. Everything else should be fine. This girl should be allowed to read from her Bible. The other users should also be allowed to insult her, provided they don't threaten her. Do you see how I am not taking sides here, how I am not being a hypocritical bastard about this? Unlike Google?

    Youtube would rather lose one ignorant user than a large group of users.

    Yes, indeed. Wherever you find blatant and obvious hypocrisy, you find a selfish motive behind it. In this case, the selfish motive is user retention. You can understand why this is not founded in principle, right? You can see how this is not rooted in equanimity, correct?

    So what's your selfish motive for defending obvious hypocrisy? I see no financial tie, so you must have a personal reason. Perhaps you really dislike religious people and are glad to see one suffer, even if you must compromise principles like free speech? Maybe you have bought into this childish hyper-emotional brand of Leftism where the fact that you "offended" me gives me the "right" to harass you? Especially if you are a Christian or a white male, since mindless group identity is everything to these anti-individuals?

    Whatever happened to real men who had balls and brains, like Voltaire, who said "I may disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it?" How about the American Founders, who knew damned well that people would use the First Amendment to say lots of things they may not personally like? All I see is a bunch of overgrown children who will use any excuse to make people behave the way they personally think they should.

    --
    It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
  11. Re:So let's just add that to the cost of piracy by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the MAFIAA wants YouTube content screened, let them spend the money to hire screeners. The DMCA, bad as it is, at least protects the web site in this regard.

  12. Re:Judges are necessary by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Youtube is a private business and can ban any speech they want.

  13. Re:This argument goes not support youtube by actiondan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >Youtube is infringing on copyrights and making money by not having to pay for that infringement. that's the same as me polluting and not having to pay the consequences.

    No it's not. There are some similarities but there are also differences.

    Youtube is a middleman between content uploaders and content viewers. In your polluting example, you are not a middleman. Would you make a waste company responsible for pre-screening every load of waste they pick up from a customer to deliver to the dump to ensure it does not have any illegal waste in it?

    Forcing youtube to screen content could have terrible consequences for all websites that act as conduits between their users (slashdot being an example) - could Slashdot afford to pre-screen every comment here for copyright violations, libel, hate speech or other illegal acts?

    Right now, such sites can operate on the basis of removing content when there is a complaint. Forcing pre-screening (presumably with penalties if violations slip through) could prove costly.

  14. Re:Judges are necessary by causality · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why yes, you're right. On that note, I'd like to share my opinion on niggers and how that problem should be handled.........

    And you should have that right even though this is reprehensible.

    The rest of us are also free to decide not to associate with you. That's how it should be handled. I do not want some authority punishing you for it. You simply won't have too many friends and lots of people may decide not to do business with you and that's enough.

    --
    It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
  15. Re:Judges are necessary by h4rr4r · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is hate speech and youtube can take it down if they want to. I suggest she go speak it in public, where she has that right. I fully support her right to do that, but I will not force youtube to carry material they do not want to.

    Many peoples opinions are hate speech, there is no difference. The fact that excuse for this is a very old book of myths makes it no better.

  16. Re:Judges are necessary by h4rr4r · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I support youtubes selfish motive. They should not be forced to broadcast speech that they do not like.
    I also support this poor ignorant childs right to spew hate speech in public.

    I fail to see how that is hypocrisy.

    Your insane theories on christians and whites being attacked are pretty humorous though. Oh noes I can't use my religion to pass laws impacting others rights, help help I am being oppressed.

  17. Re:This argument goes not support youtube by causality · · Score: 4, Insightful

    YouTube is not the one performing the copyright infringement. "They" don't like to hear this, but "They" are required to control and defend their copyrights, and nobody else.

    Amen. If Youtube is "infringing copyright" then so is every ISP, hard drive manufacturer, monitor maker, and speaker manufacturer.

    "Who cares about costs," some say? Obviously hard drive manufacturers should include hardware-based filtering software to make sure nothing copyright is stored on the drives without prior authorization from the media cartels. Yes this would drive up the costs of hard drives, but ... but ... externalities!

    Yeah. I'd rather every copyright be invalidated than live in that world. Far as I am concerned, the copyright cartels already receive enough special treatment. While it's low-brow of me, and I admit that freely, I derive a certain enjoyment from watching how much they scream and cry when they don't get their way. They're really not used to that.

    --
    It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
  18. Re:Or... by Khashishi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You joke, but if there was some kind of contest or brownie points for regular users who find and tag infringing videos, then this could be done a lot cheaper, I think.

  19. Re:This argument goes not support youtube by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Exactly. If I upload a video, how is YouTube going to know automatically that I own the copyrights to it (and all components of it). Sure, if I used some popular song as a major part of the video, they could identify that. I'd have a hard time proving that I have the right to sing Cee Lo Green's Lady Killer in a YouTube video. However, what if I used a more obscure song? Would YouTube know that No More Stones was by Enter The Haggis and not owned by me?

    In addition, what if I actually *got* permission to use a song in the background? Would YouTube automatically deny my video because they know that a song's copyright is owned by someone else (but don't know that I got the appropriate permissions)?

    There is no way that they could do this automatically. They would need teams of people researching the legal history of every video. (And thus wouldn't be able to use $1 Indian workers like Facebook.) Even if they did this, and spent billions doing so, they would *still* make mistakes (deny valid videos, approve infringing ones).

    Of course, the RIAA/MPAA don't care about this. They'd love to see YouTube/Google go under along with every other Internet company out there. Then, we could go back to the "Good Old Days" where the RIAA/MPAA reigned supreme and people had to come groveling to them for their entertainment.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  20. Re:Judges are necessary by lattyware · · Score: 5, Insightful

    YouTube is not run by the government - they are free to pick and choose what they want to display as they see fit. If you don't like it, feel free to set up same-sex-marriage-bashing-tube.

    --
    -- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
  21. Re:Judges are necessary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I could call your post "hate speech" since it calls the Bible a book of myths. See what I did there? The real hate speech was the vitriolic posts against the girl who posted the Youtube video. It really pisses me off when people are so subjective they are blind to logic. You are among them.

  22. Re:Judges are necessary by causality · · Score: 3, Insightful
    You could not have more thoroughly failed to understand what I said. If it were spoken verbally I could understand that, but it is text. You can re-read it as many times as it takes to comprehend it. Perhaps you would like to take a few deep, relaxing breaths and become nice and calm, maybe think of your own personal happy place? That way you can shut down your emotions and activate your logic and reason to let those do the thinking? Section by section, then:

    I support youtubes selfish motive. They should not be forced to broadcast speech that they do not like. I also support this poor ignorant childs right to spew hate speech in public.

    If Youtube wants to say "we will selectively censor what we dislike depending on our mood at that moment on that day, and not according to a policy that is applied equally to everyone", that would be different. Youtube has made no such claim. What they have claimed is that they will not tolerate hate speech.

    They were given multiple examples of hate speech. They censored the one that wasn't even intended to be hateful while allowing replies that were specifically designed to make that child feel bad. If they wish to rewrite their policy so that it reads "no hate speech allowed ... except the hate speech we decide to accept" that would be different. That would be fucked up, but at least it would not be hypocritical.

    There are only two logically consistent, non-hypocritical way to handle things: either censor both the girl AND her hateful responders, or censor none of them. I don't care what emotions your endocrine system is making you to feel at this moment. I also don't care if you personally favor one kind of hate speech over another kind. That's the simple truth.

    Your insane theories on christians and whites being attacked are pretty humorous though. Oh noes I can't use my religion to pass laws impacting others rights, help help I am being oppressed.

    I do not believe this sixteen-year-old girl is a legislator. Neither is she in an executive position where she can veto a bill or sign that bill into law. She is not trying to pass any law. She is merely trying to express an opinion. Do you see how simple that is, and how ridiculous you are for suggesting otherwise?

    This is why you cannot separate your emotion from reason here. You have this desperate need to make the girl into a figurehead representing some radical Christians who really do try to pass oppressive laws. Naturally you then hate this creation you have made. That is why you want her to suffer. That is why you like one kind of hate speech, namely that which makes her suffer, while disliking another. You feel so justified applying your double standard because you really don't like her. It's still a double standard.

    You are just as much of a hypocrite as Google. Don't play this game with me. I see things quite clearly and am not someone you can blind with emotion.

    --
    It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
  23. Re:Judges are necessary by Algae_94 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Your mistake in this issue is assuming YouTube should be fair. It is not. This is not government censorship, more like a private club telling her not to say that in their clubhouse. This girl can say her opinion all she wants out in public. YouTube doesn't need to re-air it. They probably shouldn't leave death threats up, but that's the point of this entire article. It is unfeasible for YouTube to screen every video posted. If you don't like the death threat vids, report them.