Sunday, October 08, 2006

Google / Youtube - Why this might be Risky

I see two posts on this topic already and this was on the front page of WSJ. Although, there is an ongoing battle for the control of "front doors of the internet" (youtube, myface, google etc are all part of this front door), I think it is quite risky for Google to buy a company like youtube due to one reason - i.e. video piracy. Youtube is a great phenomenon and is definitely easy to use but it does not have a way of determining if the content is pirated. This means content owners will continue to fight for their rights. Unless these companies negotiate some arrangement with the content providers or formulate a technical solution to prevent piracy, they will be continue to face copyright action from content owners. With a deeper pocket, such as Google the copyright actions will be broader and more intense and this is the reason why I think Google should tread this path carefully....

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