Hasta La Gadget!

YouTube trends may have changed over the last few years, but the company’s legal standing hasn’t: according to a federal judge, the DMCA still protects the streaming site from Viacom’s copyright claims. The ruling responds to Viacom’s appeal of a 2010 case, which stated that YouTube couldn’t be held responsible for copyright infringing content uploaded by its users. Viacom sought to revise the ruling, insisting that YouTube was “willfully blind” of the activity. That may be the case, but Judge Louis Stanton sees things differently. “Knowledge of the prevalence of infringing activity, and welcoming it, does not itself forfeit the safe harbor. To forfeit that, the provider must influence or participate in the infringement.” Since YouTube doesn’t pre-screen content before throwing it live, and because it always takes down infringing content upon request, it simply isn’t liable.

Viacom says that the decision “ignores the opinions of the higher courts and completely disregards the rights of creative artists,” and promises to appeal the decision again with hopes of taking the case to a jury. Google, on the other hand, is playing it cool. “The court correctly rejected Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube, reaffirming that Congress got it right when it comes to copyright on the Internet. This is a win not just for YouTube, but for people everywhere who depend on the Internet to exchange ideas and information.” Looking for a side to pick? Check out the court’s full decision after the break.

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Source: AllThingsD, YouTube

Curious as to how well Google plays with the governments of the world? Well, you need look no further than the company’s latest Transparency Report, which details instances of content removal and user data requests over a six month span. And in this latest issuance, Mountain View’s pulling the curtain back once again, revealing its rate of compliance alongside the actual number of individual account access requests it’s received. Topping out the list with the highest amount of private / public cooperation is none other than the United States at a near fully submissive 90-percent, with Japan and Denmark following closely behind. There’s no need to dole out the conspiracy theories just yet though — the majority of these events are linked to criminal investigations and copyright infringement complaints. Still, it’s an eye-opening glimpse into the life of our personal data and the price you pay for free services. Check out the source below to parse the granular bits of privacy data on display.

Filed under: Internet, Alt, Google

Google updates Transparency Report, pledges compliance to the US of A originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 02:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the last several years Google has become quick to respond to complaints of copyright infringement. Unfortunately, its record in dealing with unfounded claims (specifically on YouTube) is a bit mixed. In particular the process for appealing a Content ID takedown has left many users frustrated and with little recourse in the event of a rejected dispute. And its the content owners themselves who make that decision. Starting today, even if a dispute is rejected, users can file an appeal that leaves a content owner with one of two choices — recind the complaint or file a proper DMCA takedown notice. To minimize the amount of appeals and disputes Google is also launching an improved Content ID algorithm that identifies potentially invalid claims and places them in a queue to be reviewed manually before takedowns are issued. For more, check out the source.

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YouTube scales back automatic Content ID takedowns, improves appeals process originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 19:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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