Veoh copyright win could set precedent

The news that video-sharing site Veoh have won their copyright case could set a precedent for similar sites, according to a host of bloggers today.

In a legal analysis by the Electric Frontier Foundation, Fred von Lohmann writes: “the ruling should be required reading for the executives of every ‘Web 2.0′ business that relies on ‘user-generated content.”

On Wednesday a US District court judge ruled that the site qualified for protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and could not be sued for copyright infringement.

The adult video site Io Group were suing on grounds that Veoh violated its copyright in 2006 when the site showed user-uploaded clips from 10 of the company’s films. However, Veoh was found to have complied with DMCA guidelines.

Similar posts:

• Belgian newspaper group to take European Commission to court again after its first challenge over news aggregator fails
• CNET: IOC withdraws video takedown request to YouTube
• Belgian newspapers seeking £39m damages from Google
• Google’s fight against copyright infringement continues
• Wikileaks site restored by court ruling

ITN On in video deal with Daily Motion

ITN On, the multimedia arm of ITN, is to supply video-sharing site Dailymotion with a host of video content, a press release from the company said.

ITN On is the first UK news provider to partner Dailymotion and will provide five video channels for the site.

The ITN News channel on the site will feature breaking news videos and YouNews, a daily show compiling the most watched news stories and online video content.

A daily environmental news programme will also be produced by ITN for Dailymotion.

The T3 Gadget Show, produced in association with T3 magazine, and Gamerzine TV will be produced as part of a games and gadgets channel.

In addition, channels called OMG and This Is Genius featuring ‘quirky’ videos, clips from ITN’s video archive, music news and interviews, and a celebrity programme, will also be provided.

Similar posts:

• ITN On creates ‘made-for-mobile’ games programme
• Channel 4 News embeds video in news stories
• A plug for Sky News Unplugged
• Brightcove pulls plug on user-generated content
• ESPN in video content deal with AOL.com

YouTube vid catches police clash with cyclist

A video uploaded by a New York tourist to YouTube has captured a seemingly unprovoked attack on a cyclist by a police officer.

According to CNET, the video is at odds with the officer’s own report of the incident.

The video-sharing site has plans to harness the power of ‘citizen journalism’ with the launch of its Citizen News channel. Was this video submitted to any news organisations before or at the same time as YouTube?

Whether it was or not this video shows YouTube’s potential for newsgatherers and illustrates the changing relationship between the public and the media - some citizens would rather broadcast the news themselves.

Similar posts:

• No Comment TV
• YouTube creates channel for reporters
• More analytics for YouTube
• BBC London uses YouTube for mayoral questions
• Google launches audio search feature

YouTomb: where YouTube videos go when they die

Ever wondered where the videos that have fallen off YouTube - or been pushed - end up?

Enter YouTomb - the elephant’s graveyard of clips that have been removed from the video sharing site for copyright infringements and other offences.

Speaking to Wired.com, YouTomb’s creators - a group of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - say the site isn’t about reshowing illegal material, but is for tracking cases where remixed and satirical clips have been removed for alleged copyright infringements.

“MIT Free Culture became especially interested in the issue after YouTube announced that it would begin using filtering technology to scan users’ video and audio for near-matches with copyrighted material. While automating the takedown process may make enforcement easier, it also means that content falling under fair-use exceptions and even totally innocuous videos may receive some of the collateral damage,” a mission statement on the site reads.

As such the videos on YouTomb are represented by stills and are not available to play, but show stats on how many views they attracted before being pulled.

Despite YouTube’s recent efforts to step up copyright policing and create an automate removal process, removed videos live on in some form through YouTomb, which takes on the mantle of a video watchdog.

According to the site, it is currently monitoring 223834 videos and has identified 4428 videos taken down for alleged copyright violation and 13522 videos taken down for other reasons.

Similar posts:

• Google’s fight against copyright infringement continues
• BayTSP pilots copyright tracking technology on user-generated content sites
• More analytics for YouTube
• Google launches measurement tool for YouTube videos
• New York Times expands video online

YouTube moves into India

YouTube has launched a localised version of the video-sharing site for India.

YouTube India will apply ‘an Indian lens’ to filter content from the main site for an Indian audience, according to the site’s blog.
Local content partners have also been signed up to distribute their videos through the site.

Similar posts:

• Google launches measurement tool for YouTube videos
• YouTomb: where YouTube videos go when they die
• Glam Media launches video service
• Guardian: Indian Premier League to live stream matches online and on mobile
• YouTube creates channel for reporters

Innovations in Journalism - Plumi

We give developers the opportunity to tell us journalists why we should sit up and pay attention to the sites and devices they are working on. Today it’s video sharing software Plumi.

1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
We’re an Australian based non-profit called EngageMedia. We run a video sharing website focused on social and environmental issues in the Asia-Pacific region. To run the site we developed Plumi, a free software video sharing platform based on the Plone content management system.

2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
Plumi would be useful if you wanted to set up and run your own independent video sharing site with the above features and didn’t want to fork out thousands of dollars for a proprietary system. Plumi is completely free and open source and available to be modified and built upon.

3) Is this it, or is there more to come?
There’s a lot more to come. The platform is in constant development and we’re always looking for new programmers to contribute to Plumi or for projects to take it up to build new video sharing sites.

4) Why are you doing this?
Currently no major video sharing site shares the technology it’s built upon meaning users have to bow to often dubious terms and conditions. Coupled with this is the fact that these sites often make large sums of money they don’t share with their contributors. We believe an independent media requires independent and open source infrastructure that is available for anyone to use.

5) What does it cost to use it?
It’s completely free. You will however need a server to set it up on and a geek who knows how to do this.

6) How will you make it pay?
We receive our funding from philanthropic bodies and donations from users of the system. We supplement that income by rolling out video sharing sites for clients. Additionally as the system is open source it attracts a wide variety of contributors who add features and fixes voluntarily.

Similar posts:

• Innovations in Journalism - live geo-tagged video broadcast from Seero
• BayTSP pilots copyright tracking technology on user-generated content sites
• Online Journalism Scandinavia: Mecom’s Danish arm may ditch costly CMS for Drupal
• Pluck adds new features to social media technology
• Innovations in Journalism - EditGrid