YouTube finally implements anti-piracy 'fingerprint' system

Following several sticky legal clashes with various media companies regarding the illegal posting of copyrighted content on its pages, hugely popular video-sharing Web site YouTube is finally implementing the "YouTube Video Identification" tool, an anti-piracy system designed to protect copyright holders. After months of promises and a distinct lack of action, Google-owned YouTube finally launches its 'fingerprinting' copyright protection system.

After months of promises and a distinct lack of action, Google-owned YouTube finally launches its 'fingerprinting' copyright protection system.Google-owned YouTube has been promising such a system, which is designed to prevent users from posting any pirated material, for several months, but its lack of action has – up to this point – led to more than one major media provider slamming the site and threatening copyright violation lawsuits. Specifically, media giant Viacom sued Google and YouTube for a solid $1 billion USD in March of this year, claiming that its illegally posted content had been viewed by YouTube users more than 1.5 billion times. In order to apply the new security system, copyright owners are being asked by YouTube to submit their media for digital "fingerprinting," reports the Times Online. YouTube’s new proprietary "fingerprint" security system is designed to identify a copyrighted video should it be posted to the site, which will then enable content owners to block any such future duplicates, edits, or differing versions of the base material. Outside of merely arbitrarily blocking copyrighted video footage, content owners will also be able to "monetise" posted clips by monitoring how often they are viewed by site traffic and then, for those hitting considerable numbers, running adverts alongside them in order to absorb a degree of the collected revenue."Only the rights owner can know whether their content is available online with their permission or not – no technology can replace this. But what technology can do is make it easier for rights owners to express their decisions about how their content is used online. This is what we have built – a simpler way for rights owners to express their content policies" outlined a YouTube spokesman. "This means that rights owners who want to use and help us refine our video ID system will be providing the necessary information to help us identify their work, and what they want done when that recognition happens. We aim to make that process as convenient as possible." The new YouTube Video Identification system shifts into its official public beta phase today after private testing through the likes of CBS, Disney, and Time Warner. It is worth nothing that, although owner-submitted and fingerprinted content will prevent future illegal posting in any form, existing clips on YouTube will still have to be sought out and removed by the individual copyright holders and YouTube.