YouScrewed
Post illegal content to YouTube and don’t expect it to protect you. Here’s an “All Headline News” article that shows violated copyright owners can go right to the uploader…
When Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures asked for the name of a YouTube user who posted a 12-minute clip containing dialog from the movie the “Twin Towers,” the website quickly disclosed the information, without putting up a legal fight. Paramount Pictures promptly filed a federal lawsuit alleging copyright infringement against the maker of the clip, New York City-based filmmaker Chris Moukarbel… The incident leaves many questions as to what YouTube is doing to protect its users from lawsuits, as well as its privacy policy… Laurence P. Colton, an intellectual-property lawyer at the firm of Powell and Goldstein LLP in Atlanta says that in Moukarbel’s case, “YouTube seems to have given up too easily.”
Why SHOULD YouTube protect copyright pirates?
Shouldn’t. But some people like it will… they feel hidden. Like with Napster.
google…
YouTube’s Privacy Policy clearly states that one must not upload copyrighted material. But I didn’t know they give out user information just like that. Don’t really know what to think.. =(
Some ISP’s go to great length to protect the anonymity of the submitters. In this case, an individual uploading copyrighted video (and claiming they own it) is against YouTube’s policy and the law. So it makes sense.
I suspect the major content owners will go against the major violations first (music videos, television clips) before they bother with borderline violations (like using a brief part of a song in a lip synched video).
anonymity of your ISP use speaks to privacy… protecting someone who is publicly violating copyright law would be much more difficult for YouTube to defend…
in other words, the justice department asking an ISP for the surfing habits of its clients and a listing of the identity of those clients is a fishing expedition.
whereas if the feds find a clearly stolen clip on YouTube, they’ll be able to produce a warrant pretty quickly. Not replying to that warrant would be criminal – I doubt YouTube/Google would stand in the way.