Google Unveil New YouTube Security Measures

Since buying YouTube, Google have been angering media companies throughout the world by failing to enforce effective copyright control. Last March, Viacom, who own Paramount and Dreamworks, launched a $1billion lawsuit against Google for copyright infringement and the future of their video sharing website looked decidedly shaky. However, the recently developed YouTube Video Identification tool looks set to solve their piracy problems.

YouTube Video Identification has been under development for around six months and various media companies, which include Disney and Time Warner, are currently testing a beta version. A YouTube spokesperson has already admitted that the company are pleased with the results so far. They said: “Early tests with content companies have shown very promising results.”

To take advantage of the Video Identification tool, media companies must send Google footage of their films and TV to have a digital ‘fingerprint’ applied to them. Once this mark is applied, the material will be instantly recognised as copyrighted footage and no other YouTube user will be allowed to upload it. Obviously, this tool requires a certain degree of input from media companies but as You Tube’s David King quite rightly says, “We need them to help us help them.”

Another advantage of the YouTube Video Identification tool is that it allows media companies to post their own footage legitimately and then sell advertising space around it. This footage will also be digitally fingerprinted, meaning that no other YouTube user can illegally repost any element of it.

One disadvantage of this revolutionary new tool is that is fails to remove copyrighted material that is already on the site. While Google claim to remove any copyrighted footage as soon as they are made aware of it, many media companies often find that they have to trawl the site themselves to locate offending material and ask for its removal.

Sources:
BBC News
Guardian