As announced in July, Google is working on a video
fingerprinting technique for its YouTube site, which aims to automatically
detect copyrighted clips and prevent users from uploading them. On Tuesday, the
company announced that it made significant progress in this direction and its
YouTube Video Identification has now been launched in beta phase.
The system is designed to help owners of copyrighted videos
crack down on pirated versions distributed over the video-sharing site.
"We expect to hit unforeseen bumps and bottlenecks as
we refine, improve, and scale the system to meet everyone's needs,"
YouTube product manager David King and partner development manager Glenn Brown
said in a web posting. "We have worked with Google to develop
one-of-a-kind technology that can recognize videos based on a variety of
factors," King and Brown said in the joint posting. "Video
Identification is brand-new, cutting-edge stuff. Early tests with content
companies have shown very promising results."
What this Video Identification technology does is it
requires copyright owners to submit to YouTube their copyrighted clips, which
are processed and "fingerprinted". Whenever a user uploads a video,
it is checked against this "fingerprint" database to see whether it
is, in full or part, a copyrighted material. If that is found to be the case,
the video is rejected and won't show up on the website.
The tracking and identification system was developed in
response to complaints by large media companies at the prevalence of pirated
content on YouTube.
Earlier this year, Viacom, which owns MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon
and Comedy Central, sued Google, which owns YouTube, for massive copyright
infringement and demanded 1 billion dollars in damages.
"We're delighted that Google appears to be stepping up
to its responsibility and ending the practice of profiting from
infringement," said Michael Fricklas, general counsel of Viacom, in a
statement.
However, it's quite clear that for the system to be
effective, it needs the continuous input of videos from copyright owners,
something they have been reluctant to do. Even if it's quite obvious that this
is the only way of blocking illegal video from showing up online, some media
creators are yet reluctant to cooperate with video sharing sites, maybe fearing
that their content will leak to the public.
"No matter how accurate the tools get, it is important
to remember that no technology can tell legal from infringing material without
the cooperation of the content owners themselves," Brown and King said in
the posting.
"We really need the content community to work with
us," King explained. "We need them to help us help them."
Google said nine media companies, including Disney and Time
Warner, participated in an initial 10-day test.
Earlier this month, Google announced that the web publishers
enrolled in its AdSense program will have the opportunity to increase enrich
their content and altogether their income by embedding ad-supported videos from
YouTube content creators. The new service, called Video Units, will enable
publishers to display relevant, targeted video content within a customized,
embedded player that’s ad-supported. The videos are delivered via YouTube and
for the moment Google is working only with selected content partners such as TV
Guide Broadband, Expert Village,
Mondo Media, lonelygirl15, Extreme Elements, and Ford Models.
In order to solve the copyright issues MySpace.com unveiled
a technology called Take Down Stay Down which prevents users from re-posting
video content in the MySpace community after that content has been removed.
