GRD Google Fans

Finally. At last. Phew. About F*&ing Time.

YouTube announced yesterday that they have begun testing an anti-piracy video batching database to protect themselves from copyright infringement lawsuits. The original announcement of the YouTube Video Identification system was back in June.

According to the Official Google Blog, the Video Identification system goes above and beyond the company’s legal responsibilities, but I’m not entirely sure thats the right message for them to be putting out. “We do what we can,” isn’t the warm, fuzzy sentiment that will prevent future lawsuits.

It remains to be seen…

Popular Piracy Players Go Primetime

Anyone who has dabbled in downloading music, movies and software has undoubtedly heard of BitTorrent. The technology, originally developed by Bram Cohen, caught fire within the pirate community as the most popular way for sharing large files over the internet.

But BT isn’t just technology used to rip of “the man” anymore. In Februrary of this year, BitTorrent went legit (at least as a company), and opened its doors with content partnerships from leading studios such as 20th Century Fox, Comedy Central, Lions Gate, Paramount and Warner Brothers.

Today, BitTorrent…

The Purple One, Prince, plans to sue YouTube and other online outlets in an attempt to “reclaim his art on the Internet,” according to a Reuters report.

“YouTube … appear(s) to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content which is core to their business success,” according to a statement.

We couldn’t agree with you more, Prince. We’ve been critical of YouTube in the past for their lack of content filtering, be it copyright material or hate speech. One of these days they are going to get tired of…

“There is no middle ground. We demand that all copyrighted material be removed immediately,” said composer Hideki Matsutake at a press conference addressing YouTube’s content.

Speaking on behalf of a group of television, music and movie companies, Matsutake said, “YouTube has to stop how it runs its site and get rid of the illegal clips. We want them to reset the service.”

CNet’s Greg Sandoval explores the impact of P2P file sharing on Hollywood movie releases. Do they build buzz or bust ticket sales?

Personally, I don’t believe that file-sharing helps build buzz. Its the result of buzz. People want to see a movie without standing in line, sitting in a bad seat, and paying for an overpriced ticket. But they download because they already have made the decision whether or not to see the film. Just not how they’ll see it.

How do you see it?