While the news of a possible Microsoft/Yahoo! acquisition/merger has been on the front page of every periodical including every Blog on the planet, I’d like to add my 2 cents with linking to this article from Information Week - kudos to Stephen Wellman for a thought-provoking article on why Nokia should buy Yahoo! without thinking another second. I’m in favor - anyone else?
John Battelle unearths a post here that should make us all quiver. Originally found on the Xooglers (ex-Googlers) blog, and THEY found on Reddit. While the core content is still unchanged - the story of how Google/YouTube got from point A to point B could be a little fuzzy.
Bottom line, apparently there is no “Free Speech” on YouTube (now owned by Google) and those that criticize a religion based on direct quotes from that religion’s main text will be deleted. Not only the content, but your account.
So, videos which show demonstrative violence apparently are ok, but textual fact is prohibited. Hmmm.
Well, as we all know, Google pulled out the equity checkbook and bought YouTube. There are many naysayers amongst the wise gurus (primarily due to copyright risks engaged via YouTube’s business model), but I did notice that Google and YouTube has leveraged their clout to negotiate deals with major content owners to preempt at least some level of the risk. Who knows where this will come out? Additionally, will YouTube be more than a passing fad? Will quality still rule? Only time will tell. If you’ve read my blog previously, you’ll know what my predication would be….
Much like the Real Estate world (location, location, location), the new digital media world slogan may end up being “licensing, licensing, licensing”. The YouTube discussion continues via Ben Werdmuller, following John C. Dvorak’s MarketWatch article from last week. Ben mentions that YouTube has been named the “Napster of video”, which suggests illegal distribution of media. This also pertains to Google Video as well, or for that matter, any website that is allowing uploads of video.
Similarly, this issue was addressed in an interview with Bill Gates, by a panel of journalists from WSJ Online on June 19, 2006. Bill was busted at the end by admitting to watching pirated content on YouTube.
We just thought this related to music and the RIAA, but it appears that digital media everywhere must change their expected models of distribution and compensation, otherwise we’ll be fighting over this after I’m dead and gone…
Giovanni and I just finished a podcast discussing this - stay tuned for the publish date!