My View of Viacom v. YouTube

My comments on this case are from the perspective of the technology companies that are not part of the suit, but may be affected by the outcome. My comments are directed at 1) the filtering technology Google put in place at YouTube in May 2008, and 2) Viacom's actions in uploading their own content onto YouTube and leaving it there when it was to Viacom's benefit to do so. Google went to enormous effort to develop the YouTube Video Identification tool, starting with the beta in October 2007 and its final implementation in May 2008. Will Google's implementation set the standard for filtering? If so, the effect will be to diminish competition, as very few companies will be able to devote the resources to developing what Google itself calls "a highly complicated technology platform." In posting its own videos to YouTube, Viacom's behavior was beyond deceitful. Viacom should not be allowed to assert DMCA violations against YouTube. It's a bit like a bank robber saying, "it's OK that I robbed the bank, because some of the money I took was mine."