"Google Should Fire YouTube's Lawyers" Nathan Weinberg

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Google Should Fire YouTube's Lawyers

By: Nathan Weinberg

2006-11-16

Google's been known for their legal mishaps, sending out the same random brain-dead notices from their lawyers that every major corporation is guilty of.

However, Google does seem to have instilled in their lawyers some discretion, as the number and stupidity of legal notices seems lower than at some other companies. Now that Google has completed its purchase of YouTube, my first advice to them would be to fire YouTube's legal team.

YouTube's moves to keep the system copyright-violation-free (as ineffective and inadequate as they were) have been very unpopular among many of its most prolific users. YouTube has removed infringing material with a sledgehammer, deleting accounts wholesale after a few infringing videos.

While uploaders of full episodes of South Park deserve what they get, YouTube's power users, who upload large amounts of original and copyright-free video and truly give the service a chance at being some sort of legitimate archive, they both hate and fear the YouTube police. Remember an incident where the account of the Opie and Anthony show, one of the most popular radio programs in the country, had its account deleted over a TV interview of the radio duo, despite having uploaded hundreds of original recordings.

Google's legal moves might be smarter than YouTube's. At the least, those worried about investing their time in YouTube might worry a little less if a fresh guard took over. Either way, even if YouTube is to operate semi-independently, there's no reason to have two seperate groups handling DMCA notices and other abuses. Centralize with the lawyers at Google, and there's a lot of benefit to be had.

Maybe then TechCrunch won't receive legal notices that actually contradict YouTube's terms of service. Say what you will, but Google doesn't hire these kind of dummies.

See lots of coverage at TechMeme.

[abudabit]

They're just being careful, no lawyer has ever been fired for being careful. I don't blame YouTube, it isn't exactly ruining the website.

[ImAlrightSpider]

Originally Posted by abudabit

They're just being careful, no lawyer has ever been fired for being careful. I don't blame YouTube, it isn't exactly ruining the website.

In my opinion, it IS ruining YouTube. That site has passed its peak. It will not survive with the popularity it has previously enjoyed if it only has original content. Just as MySpace passed its peak shortly before it was purchased, YouTube's popularity is waning.

Kids are the leading indicators of the direction that the internet is taking. Kids were on MySpace for hours every day until it was sold. Kids are no longer all over YouTube like they were. I teach middle school students, and it is clear that YouTube is "over" for them. The point is that by the time adults catch on to something cool on the internet, the kids are already moving on to the next thing. Adults invariably follow.

[abudabit]

People abandon MySpace cause there isn't shit you can do on it and you get spammed by robots. What has changed since it got sold?

And I sure as shit don't go to YouTube to see copyrighted material. If I want to catch an episode of South Park I'll just download it illegally.

But more importantly please point out on the graph where YouTube is getting killed. Where I come from a steady upward line on web traffic is a good thing:

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/tr...ww.youtube.com

And how about MySpace getting abandoned:

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/tr...ww.myspace.com

[ImAlrightSpider]

Clearly, YouTube has gained in popularity over the last several months. I am saying that their rise is at an end, and they are facing a downward trend. Again, using kids (middle school through college) as an indicator, I'm telling you that they are using it less. There are more adults using those sites now, but as soon as the kids' "next big thing" gets out, the adults will migrate over there.

Mostly conjecture, but it is what I see coming soon.

[abudabit]

I can definitely see MySpace declining (still don't understand the concept), but YouTube is here to stay I believe. Although they definitely have more and more competition, these video posting sites are huge now.

[ImAlrightSpider]

You are absolutely right that the video posting sites are huge and they are here to stay. I would argue that YouTube's seemingly more and more restrictive posting policies will hurt it in the long run. As the original article (blog?) in this thread states, YouTube's policies are very unpopular. When an entire huge collection of O&A videos is wiped out for the sake of one copyrighted video, you can't expect that site to be around forever without changing policy.

A number of more savvy, "hipper" online-posters are posting to anonymous hosts such as tinypic and other media hosts where the user does not have a portfolio, but simply a number to identify each item. Whether this be for privacy, ease of use, or some other reason remains to be seen, but the trend appears to be away from YouTube.

Now, all of this having been said, I personally enjoy YouTube. I am on checking out random videos almost every day.