Why I'm a Defender of YouTube
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001149.html
There's stuff about today's Internet that I love, and there's stuff
about today's Internet that I hate. This seems entirely fair and just
and proper, given that I have much the same feelings about the world at
large and humanity in particular.
One of the aspects of the Internet that I love is Google's YouTube.
It is, in many ways, at the center of the Internet universe and of our
Internet lives for many of us, despite advancing efforts of its various
competitors to (in some cases literally and illicitly) steal its
thunder.
Personally, I don't much care about the latest dance video to hit a
billion YT views. And I've never monetized any of my own videos on
YouTube, so my videos up there have never made me a dime, not even one
that recently passed a million views itself.
That's all fine with me.
It's also fine with me that other folks do monetize, and do care about
those billion dance video views -- because all of that is what helps pay
the bills that keep those Google data centers humming along and spewing
forth those godzillabytes of YouTube video streams.
I mostly watch YouTube for current "issues of importance" items,
occasional current entertainment, educational and often money-saving
"how-to" videos of all sorts, and gobs of archival searches.
In that last category tend to be not only the nostalgic clips from
yesteryear -- often that I haven't seen in decades, but frequently
incredible serendipity from YouTube's astronomical corpus of uploaders
and their videos. In fact, this posting today was partly inspired by my
stumbling upon wonderful 1974 videos this morning that I never knew
existed, showing the comedian Marty Feldman performing classic Tom
Lehrer songs. Praise be to YouTube!
There is also a seeming dark side to YouTube -- but in fact it is not
actually of YouTube at all, but rather a reflection of the world's own
Yin and Yang, for the astronomical quantities of video being uploaded to
YouTube 24/7/365 represent but a reflection of humanity in all its
wonderful glory and hideous evil. YouTube itself is no more responsible
for the existence of planet Earth's problems than a mirror hanging on
the wall is responsible for the images reflecting from it.
It is also my belief that most attempts to force Google to censor
YouTube tend to be misguided in the extreme. For example, YouTube
already prohibits explicitly violent videos that could reasonably be
interpreted to incite attacks on people, animals, or property -- all
addressed via YouTube's existing Terms of Service. Efforts to bury and
hide all evil from public view will inevitably result in blowback that
can ultimately be even more damaging to society.
There are indeed practical and reasonable limits to specific speech in
certain extreme and specific situations, but using fears of terrorism as
an excuse to try impose broad restrictions on free speech aren't
effective nor appropriate ways to fight terrorism -- they are in fact
ceding power to the very terrorist philosophies that we wish to
eradicate.
Google is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to YouTube in
particular. Governments around the world want to control YT for their
own ends, often to the political or personal financial advantage of
their own nations' leaders and other politicians.
And YouTube is lodged between the devil and the deep blue sea in terms
of other dilemmas as well.
A large percentage of the Google-related queries I receive virtually
every day involve YouTube. Often these are concerns from users who are
complaining about problems that their uploaded videos are having with
YouTube's Content ID system, or with copyright strikes, or with other
related YT Terms of Use matters where they're unhappy with associated
responses they've received from Google regarding their concerns.
I try to help to the limited extent that I'm able. At the least I can
often offer free advice. And I often feel for them, too. I've had my own
YT videos that suffered errant Content ID hits. I once saw my entire
main YouTube account closed (and later restored in full, after some
considerable effort on my part) due to mistaken copyright strikes.
Frequently in these queries is expressed the belief that Google is
attacking them -- these individual YouTube users -- out of evil, or
spite, or just because they can. There is not infrequently an implicit
(or explicit) assumption that YouTube favors the "big guys" over the
"little guys" when it comes to rights disputes.
But in reality there is no spite nor evil there, and the perceived
imbalance between users is the result of the way domestic and
international laws and agreements are written -- for example the DMCA --
these are complex issues and legal edicts with which Google must abide.
This is not to suggest that improvements in YouTube's usually automated
and rather officious DMCA claim/counterclaim system wouldn't be welcome,
certainly. But Google is significantly legally constrained in
flexibility in these regards, and an unbiased, longitudinal examination
will show that major improvements have been deployed in these YouTube
processes, especially for individual uploaders, particularly over the
last few years.
Yet beyond all this is the foundational truth that without Content ID
and copyright strikes, without the YouTube Terms of Service and claim
forms and all the rest -- including all the great people at
YouTube/Google who work their asses off (tech-wise and policy-wise) to
keep it all going -- YouTube as we know it today likely could not exist
at all, and much of what we find so wondrous there would blink out of
existence like a shooting star crossing the horizon.
There's no major moral to this post today, well, except perhaps this ...
In a time of fascist politicians spouting simplistic slogans about race,
religion, terrorism, and censorship, along with whatever other pandering
platitudes they believe will win them votes, prestige, power, and
control -- it's worth remembering how much good the Internet brings us,
and how much poorer we'd all be in so many ways for the shackling of
Internet services like YouTube, in the name of such self-serving
proclamations and damaging false solutions.
Be seeing you.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently
doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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